The 62nd EPRC Annual Conference
765-kV design workshop
HVDC transmission short course
May 20-22, 2025
Iowa State Memorial Union
2229 Lincoln Way
Ames, IA 50011
Theme: Iowa’s role in grid innovation, Past, Present, Future
May 20, afternoon: new challenges in grid planning, ISU energy planning and grid resilience projects, and Iowa’s historic role in wind development. On May 21 we host a workshop on 765-kV transmission planning. On May 22 we present a workshop on HVDC design.
Event summary
May 20, EPRC Annual Business Meeting and Conference
ISU Memorial Union GREAT HALL
- 10 AM-1:30 PM: EPRC Annual Business meeting – The EPRC Technical Advisory Committee convenes to hear reports and to vote on the EPRC budget and projects for 2025-2026.
- 2:00 PM: EPRC Energy Conference begins:
- 2:00 PM: Keynote: The importance of comprehensive transmission planning in an area of uncertainty. Dr. Adria Brooks, Director of Transmission Planning, Grid Strategies LLC
- 3:00 PM: Dr. James McCalley, ISU, The Plan Iowa Energy Project
- 4:00-4:15 Break
- 4:15 PM: Resilience Round Table: ISU Profs Ian Dobson, Hugo Villegas, Zhaoyu Wang and guests highlight current work on practical distribution grid resilience projects
- 5:15 PM: EPRC reception and student poster competition
- 6:30 PM Banquet, Tom Wind, Wind Utility Consulting: The History of Iowa’s Wind Development.
May 21, EPRC 765-kV design workshop
ISU Memorial Union South Ballroom
- 8:00 AM: EPRC Welcome
Anne Kimber, ISU - 8:10 AM: Extra High Voltage: The Evolution of 765-kV Transmission
Cory Henderson, Burns & McDonnell - 9:00 AM: AEP’s 765-kV operating experience
Evan Wilcox, AEP - 10:00 AM: MISO 765 kV Minimum Facility Design Requirements and Recommendations
Matthew Tackett, MISO - 11:00 PM: ITC’s Journey to 765 kV line standards
Aaron Graber, ITC Holdings - 12:00 PM: Lunch
- 12:30 PM: GMD: the role of the USGS Geomagnetics program
John Spritzer, USGS - 1:10 PM: ITC approach to 765 standards development for substations
Alex Rannow, ITC Holdings - 2:00 PM: Hitachi 800 kV Dead Tank Circuit Breakers
Michael Lane, Hitachi - 3:00 PM: Cold, Complex, and Critical: Navigating 765kV Substation Challenges
Stephen Moerer, Burns & McDonnell - 4:00 PM: Testing and Development of 765kV configuration
Jean-Pierre Marais, EPRI - 5:00 PM: Reception
May 22, 8 AM-3:30 PM, HVDC Transmission Short Course
ISU Memorial Union South Ballroom and online
- P. Lof, National Grid, Introduction to HVDC Technology
- Jim McCalley, ISU, Point-to-Point HVDC
- X. Fang, Mississippi State University, Offshore Wind Power Integration
- Matthew Tackett, MISO, Legacy EHV vs 765 kV vs HVDC
- A. Mehrizi-Sani, Virginia Tech, Power Electronics 101: Fundamentals of switching power converters and EMT
- L. Tolbert, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Modular multilevel converter design
- H. Cui, North Carolina State University, VSC-HVDC Converter station technologies
- Raj Rajan, SOO Green, HVDC short course lunch speaker
These events are free to attend but you must register by May 5.