POWER Engineers hosted its 25th annual Power Delivery Design Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on Feb, 25 and 26,. In a milestone year for the invitation-only event, it featured near-record attendance, including design engineers from 35 utilities as well as 44 speakers who came from as far as Finland to offer training and presentations.

PDDC features technical and general sessions on overhead and underground lines, substations, and electrical systems studies. This year’s conference focused on a mix of technical topics related to design and maintenance of power delivery systems, as well as timely issues like FERC Order 1000.

This year’s keynote speaker, Maureen Borkowski, chairman, president and CEO of Ameren Transmission Co., shared the challenges associated with large transmission system build-out programs, namely the Ameren Illinois Rivers project.

Other highlights included Vern Porter’s session on creating a culture of safety at Idaho Power; Buck Fife’s discussion of conductor strains; and Ron Carrington’s HVDC presentation for transmission line design engineers.

Next year’s conference will be held March 2 and 3, also in Sun Valley. It is an invitation-only event mainly catering to utility design engineers.