Electrical Power Conference (EPC) 2007 is focused on Renewable and Alternative Energy Resources as one of the areas in Power Systems Engineering that has been receiving a lot of attention in the recent years worldwide. The conference is sponsored by IEEE Canada and sponsored and organized by IEEE Montreal and Ottawa Sections. It is a natural extension/spin-off of the Electrical Power Symposia (EPS) that started in Ottawa and for the past six consecutive years were very successfully organized by the IEEE Ottawa Section.

The Electrical Power Symposia (EPS) started in 2001 with addressing issues of deregulation in electricity industry, which received a lot of attention because of the Ontario Government deregulation initiative at the time. As the EPS grew into an annual event, it focused on other aspects of the Ontario electricity situation, in particular the increasing debt and the widening gap between demand and supply, and, in 2004, on the tough choices facing Ontario, ranging from large-scale nuclear generation to demand management and distributed energy.

In 2005, the focus moved to general issues such as the convergence of power and high technologies. Five major areas of the convergence between the power and high technologies were showcased: communications, real-time applications, wide-area protection, smart metering, and automation in power systems. Due to the presence of the highly developed communication industry that made Ottawa known as the Silicon Valley North, the Symposium draw upon that world class expertise available in Ottawa, but also reached out and had several distinguished speakers from outside of Canada.

That approach of addressing the topics of wider interest and to have both Canadian and international speakers, was followed in 2006 as well. The crucial role of Distributed Generation and Smart Grids is increasingly getting recognition in the economy, energy, and environment, which form a basis for nation’s sustainability, security, and development. Since 2006 marked the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, the inventor of AC power system who also was a member of the IEEE predecessor - American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) - its Fellow, and Vice-President 1892-1894, the EPS 2006 was organized under the theme “From Tesla’s AC Power System to Distributed Generation and Smart Grids”. Here is the list of the EPS themes:

2006: From Tesla’s AC Power System to Distributed Generation and Smart Grids

2005: Convergence of Power and High Technologies

2004: Ontario's Tough Electricity Choices

2003: Supply and Demand Challenges

2002: Tricks and Treats in Evolving Electricity Markets

2001: Electricity Deregulation (in Ontario)

The Electrical Power Symposia (EPS) clearly identified a need for a forum in which the information and ideas related to the Power Systems Engineering can be exchanged among the experts, professionals from the engineering and business communities, and general public. The upcoming Electrical Power conference 2007 will continue addressing this need.