The International SC D2 Colloquium took place in Moscow from the 18^th to the 22^nd of September 2017. This key sectorial event focusing on information systems and telecommunication was held in Russia for the first time and attracted over 150 experts from 26 countries around the world.

This year the Colloquium was organized by Subcommittee D2 of RNC CIGRE (RTSoft is a base institution) with the support of FGC UES and SO UPS.

Biannual International Colloquiums of CIGRE (The Council on Large Electric Systems) are one of the main frameworks of the Council’s activities. The Colloquiums take place in a new country every time, and their main goal is international exchange of knowledge and experience between energy companies, equipment manufacturers, scientific and project-related organizations. Participants are able to see tangible results of implementation of specific projects.

The D2 Colloquium held in Russia sparked significant interest of both international and domestic experts. The number of submitted papers almost doubled the figures of the two previous D2 Colloquiums, and the event was visited by more than 150 experts from 26 countries. International participants made up over 50% of the general turnout, and the largest delegation came from Japan.

Working Groups sessions and closed consultations took place on Septembers 18^th and 19^th. On September 20^th, the Colloquium officially started with an Opening Ceremony, where the participants were welcomed by the General Secretary of CIGRE Philippe Adam; Chairman of RNC CIGRE, board chairman of FGC UES Andrey Murov; SC D2 Chairman Philippe Quenaudon as well as by SC D2 regular member and Chairman of Subcommittee D2 of RNC CIGRE, General Director of RTSoft AO Olga Sinenko.

In his speech Philippe Adam thanked the event organizers for a warm welcome and emphasized the importance of international partnership within the framework of CIGRE. He also mentioned the fact that in 2016, Russia has ranked first in Europe and fifth worldwide in terms of CIGRE membership, outperformed only by China, Brasil, the USA and Japan.

Andrey Murov thanked the SC CIGRE team for their decision to hold the Colloquium in Moscow and stressed the relevancy of digital technologies and cybersecurity development in the modern world. Russia perceives the importance of innovation and technical progress in all areas of its domestic power industry. Andrey Murov specifically noted that the number of research projects related to the digitalization of production and management processes in FGC UES is growing.

Philippe Quenaudon in his turn also touched on the importance of international exchange within the sector and noted that the energy landscape is rapidly changing and market liberalization is initiating new commercial processes. Innovative ideas are vital to creation of resilient and secure grids, and the Colloquium provides a platform for these ideas to be shared and discussed. Philippe encouraged Russian members to take an active stance in CIGRE activities and announced that all papers presented during the event will be evaluated and 3-5 of them will be chosen to be included in CIGRE publications.

Olga Sinenko welcomed all of the participants, wished everyone to have a productive event and thanked the CIGRE team and Colloquium partners for making everything possible.

After the Opening Ceremony was over, the main event programme started, including the paper presentations. On September 20^th the main discussed topic was «Highly reliable communication infrastructure for traditional and new applications in EPI». Lhoussain Lhassani, Security Information Officer of STEDIN (the Netherlands), was the moderator. Papers were presented by representatives of Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Russia, Serbia, Uruguay, Finland, South Africa and Japan.

On the 21^st of September Colloquium participants discussed other topics: «Software platforms for control of distributed energy resources» and «Resilience to cyber threats of information and telecommunication systems in the power industry». Alexey Nebera, Technical Director of Energy Department and Director of Smart Grid Center of RTSoft (Russia), moderated the discussion of the first topic, and Dennis Holstein, Leading Expert of OPUS Consulting Group (the USA), took on the moderation of the second. Experts from Germany, Russia, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, China, the Netherlands, France, South Africa and Japan presented their papers.

22^nd of September was the day of tutorials and panel discussions. Two prominent foreign experts presented their special reports: Giovanna Dondossola (Italy) talked about application of monitoring standards for enhancing energy system security, and Narendra Singh Sodha (India) presented a project concerning innovative smart grid transmission system monitoring using wide area monitoring, protection and control systems.

Panel discussions provided an opportunity for a more in-depth exploration of modern challenges and concepts such as Grid Monitoring, Internet of Things and Cybersecurity in the electric power industry. Participants – experts representing various specialized organizations — discussed ways to solve a number of problems, including product certification for compliance with cybersecurity requirements. Speakers proposed solutions based on encryption methods and analyzed the possible implications. Irina Vasilieva, representative of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, presented a report titled «Digitalization of the electric power industry», in which she demonstrated a roadmap of the new, digitalized sector.

Once the panel discussions and tutorials were over, Colloquium participants went on to visit the Main Dispatch Center of SO UPS. During the technical visit members of SC D2 CIGRE saw the main dispatch board (including a demonstration of standard operation procedures) and the training center (including the unique SO UPS technical personnel training system). They also learned about the history of SO UPS and its role in the creation of the modern national electric power industry.

A poster paper session, prepared by the RNC CIGRE Youth Section, also took place within the framework of the Colloquium. Eleven talented young researchers and energy students presented their works to the international community.