CONFERENCE EVENT 2026

PowerGRID

27th May - 28th May

Following the success of PowerGRID 2025 we are delighted to invite you to join industry leaders, innovators, and experts at PowerGrid 2026 to explore the latest advancements in grid design and development, digitization, testing, and cybersecurity.

Programme

27th May

09:30 - Registration
Sean McSweeny

Welcome to MTU Faculty of Engineering

Dino Masle

Emerging FRT requirements overview across European market for large load connections

David Supple

SF6 Removal

Dermot OKeeffe

Technologies Enabling a Smarter Grid

Ali Abdulla and Bernhard Engstler

Protection & IEC 61850

Ali Abdulla and Bernhard Engstler

Worskshops 1,2,3

Diarmuid McDonnell

Engineering and Testing Digital Substation Technologies for Merville and Nutley Lane

Saurabh Talwar

SIPROTEC V (Virtualized)

Kevin Dollard

Substation LV and Control Cable Specification and Design - Practical Considerations

Gala dinner in The Kingsley Hotel with Musical Entertainment after the meal.

28th May

09:30 - Poster Presentation

List of Accepted Posters

Three Minutes and Three Slides

Dr. Pádraig Lyons | IERC
Simon Hussey | ESB
Liam O’Sullivan | H&MV Engineering
Judy Rea| MTU
Ali Abdulla and Bernhard Engstler

Worskshops 4,5,6,7

Sowmya Sabu

Anchor Foundations for Floating Offshore Wind Projects in the North Sea: Enabling Grid Connection and Build Out

André Silva-Melo

How Non-Conventional Instrument Transformers Can Be Utilised in Digital Substations

Adrian Dennehy

Celtic Interconnector — Construction Progress to Date

Keynote Speakers

Ali Abdulla

Regional Application Specialist, Digital Substations and Cyber Security | Omicron

Ali Abdulla is the European Regional Applications Specialist at OMICRON, with a BEng in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Leicester. He has held various roles in designing and commissioning PAC systems. He has widespread experience in testing substation automation, protection systems and digital communication networks. Currently a member of CIGRE WG B5.84.

Dino Masle

Group Technical Manager , Power Systems Expert | H&MV

Dino Masle received the M.S.E.E. from “Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Information Technology Osijek” in 2013 and immediately started working as a Relay Protection Specialist in an engineering company, specializing in design and commissioning of greenfield and brownfield projects in MV, HV substations as well as large power plants. His next experience was with the Croatian TSO at the position of SCADA and Control Engineer. During his time in the TSO, he worked on the integration of control center SCADA and power system analysis software to enable on the fly analysis of various system phenomena. He also worked on a substation level SCADA for various projects at 400 kV, 220 kV and 110 kV.

Currently, he holds a position of Group Technical Manager with H&MV. He is heading the power system studies team, working on standardisation and various engineering tasks across the business, as well as supporting high profile projects.

Throughout 2013 – 2025, Dino held position as external associate at Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Information Technology Osijek as a lecturer in power system protection related subjects where he enjoyed his work with students and academia

Kevin Dollard

Director of Transmission & Distribution | NeoDyne

Director of NeoDyne’s Transmission & Distribution business, Kevin, has built NeoDynes T&D division to a team of 50 engineers.  Kevin’s expertise is highly sought after, and he has played a leading role in integrating renewables into the transmission and distribution network.

Kevin is a Chartered Engineer with a degree in Electrical Engineering from UCC.

diarmuid McDonnell

Transmission Protection Specialist | ESB

Transmission Protection Specialist in ESB’s Engineering and Major Projects division with 26 years experience in Utilities, Transport and Energy Markets. Currently involved in an ESB Innovation Project assessing the suitability of Digital Substation technologies, such as centralised protection and control, for the Distribution System and the Nutley Lane 110 kV Fully Digital Substation project.

Bernhard Engstler

Application Engineer, Power System Testing & Diagnostics | Omicron

Bernhard Engstler finished his education as an Electrician in 1998 and worked internationally as a commissioning and service engineer until 2012.

Since 2013 he works at OMICRON electronics GmbH in Klaus, Austria, as an application engineer for primary testing with a focus on power transformer testing and diagnostics.

David Supple

Product Marketing Director | ABB

David Supple is Product Marketing Director for Electrification Distribution Solutions in Ireland.

He has worked in Medium Voltage division for 36 years to date and will talk about the transition to SF6 free MV switchgear.

Adrian Dennehy

Deputy Interface Manager | EirGrid

A Chartered Chemical Engineer with 26 years’ experience across the energy and pharmaceutical/biopharmaceutical sectors, he combines strong technical expertise with commercial acumen. He holds a B.Eng in Chemical and Process Engineering from Cork Institute of Technology and an M.Sc in Technology Management from University College Cork.  He has delivered major capital projects and led operational and maintenance programmes for complex industrial plants, working in global and multicultural environments. He is currently working on the Celtic Interconnector project for EirGrid as the Deputy Interface Manager, supporting delivery of Ireland’s first direct electricity link with mainland Europe, a strategically significant project for energy security and renewable integration.

Sowmya Sabu

Offshore Wind Civil Engineer | ESB

Sowmya Sabu is a Civil Engineer specialising in offshore wind foundation engineering. She currently works with ESB in the Offshore Wind Generation Engineering division, where her work focuses on foundation design, interface management, and site investigations, with particular expertise in anchor foundations for floating offshore wind platforms. 

She began her career as a Graduate Civil and Structural Engineer with Petrofac, a UAE‑headquartered EPC contractor, where she developed strong technical experience across oil & gas and offshore wind projects. She holds a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Limerick. 

Sowmya is deeply committed to the role of offshore wind in enabling a sustainable energy transition. She also serves as Secretary of the Women in Energy Committee at CIGRE Ireland, a position she has held since the committee’s formation in early 2025, and actively contributes to initiatives that promote diversity, inclusion, and the advancement of women in the energy sector. 

Saurabh Talwar

Global Product Manager | Siemens

Saurabh Talwar is a Global Product Manager specializing in virtualization platforms and AI-driven solutions for power grids. With over 12 years of experience spanning P&L management, sales, operations, and business strategy, Saurabh has consistently delivered impactful results in the tech industry. His expertise lies in bridging the gap between user experience, technology, and business objectives. Saurabh emphasizes the importance of understanding organizational culture to drive product success, advocating for product managers to be the voice of the business within cross-functional teams.

Saurabh’s approach combines strategic insight with a deep appreciation for user-centric design, ensuring that products not only meet technical specifications but also resonate with end-users and stakeholders alike.

André Felipe Silva Melo

Global System Architect | Schneider Electric

André F. S. Melo is a Global System Architect at Digital Power Application Center (DPAC) of Schneider Electric. He received the B.E. degree in Computer Engineering from Universidade Potiguar (UnP) in 2017 and the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR) in 2021. He is now pursuing Ph.D. degree in Power Systems at Universidad de Sevilla. His fields of interest include Protection and Control System, Digital Substations, and IEC 61850. Mr. André is active member in various work groups of CIGRE B5, IEEE PES PSRC, PSCCC & IEC TC57 WG10.

Dermot OKeeffe

Product-Line Director for Smart Energy Grid Solutions | Analog Devices

Dermot OKeeffe is the Product-Line Director for Smart Energy Grid Solutions group at Analog Devices based in Cork Ireland, focusing on innovating and commercializing energy measurement and management technologies for markets globally. Dermot has been awarded 13 patents, and has a certificate in System Design and Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a graduate degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from University College Cork.

dr. Padraig Lyons

Head of the International Energy Research Centre | IERC

Dr Pádraig Lyons is Head of the International Energy Research Centre (IERC), a multi-disciplinary research group of 30 researchers and PhD students, at Tyndall.  

He has held roles in industry including roles at ESB, TNEI UK and in academia at Newcastle and Durham Universities in the UK.

His current research focus on the integration of long duration energy storage (LDES) to decarbonise the energy system in the context of growing penetrations of renewables and increasing requirements for load on the energy system driven by electrification of heat and transport, decarbonisation of industry and datacentre growth. To support the research objectives in this area requires multi-disciplinary approaches and works collaboratively with researchers in adjacent areas such as new business models for decarbonisation, policy innovation, renewable generation, big data and artificial techniques for energy and social sciences.

Dr Lyons is a chartered engineer, is a Fellow at the School of Engineering, University College Cork and is a member of the IEA established International Smart Grid Action Network’s (ISGAN’s) Working Group 7 on Smart Grids Transitions.

Simon Hussey

Senior Protection Specialist | ESB

Simon holds a B.E. (Hons) in Electrical Engineering and an M.Eng.Sc. (by research) in Power Systems Voltage Stability from UCD. With over 29 years of experience in the protection field at ESB International and subsequently ESB Engineering and Major Projects, they have served as ESB’s principal application engineer for protection devices and schemes across the Irish transmission (110 – 400 kV) and distribution (10 – 110 kV) networks for more than 21 years. Additionally, they represented Ireland on the CIGRE Study Committee B5 for eight years starting in 2006, contributing as a member to four SC.B5 working groups. Highly active in the broader professional community, they have served on the technical review committees for the last eight IET Developments in Power System Protection international conferences and currently sit on the conference’s organizing committee.

Judy Rea

Lecturer | MTU

Judy Rea is a Lecturer in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Munster Technological University since 2016. She has with extensive experience in both industry and academia. She holds an MSc in Sustainable Energy and a BEng (Hons) from University College Cork. Her expertise includes power systems, renewable and marine energy, microgrids, and power quality. Judy has contributed to and led major EU‑funded research projects and has published widely in international journals and conferences.  She led the electrical engineering research team in SFI’s MaREI research centre in UCC.

In MTU, she is Programme Coordinator for the Postgraduate Certificate in Smart Sustainable Power Engineering at MTU, where she is actively involved in curriculum development, project supervision, and advancing innovative, industry-relevant education in sustainable energy systems.

Liam O’Sullivan

Technical Manager | H&MV Engineering

At H&MV Engineering, Liam is the Commissioning Group Technical Manager, overseeing multidisciplinary teams of SCADA, Protection, and Commissioning professionals.

Together, they ensure the high standards H&MV are maintained across all projects. With over 25 years of experience in the electrical industry, including more than 16 years dedicated to transmission and distribution projects across Ireland, Liam brings deep technical knowledge and hands-on expertise to every project. Liam is a specialist in all aspects of substation commissioning and advanced protection and control testing. Prior to his current role, he served as a Senior Protection Specialist with ESB, Ireland’s national utility.

How Was PowerGrid 2025?

PowerGrid 2025 was a tremendous success, bringing together industry leaders, innovators, and experts from across the power grid sector. Browse the highlights below.

Posters

MTU offers a L9 Certificate in Smart Sustainable Power Engineering. The programme trains power engineers to design, operate, test and maintain the smart grid. Students explore the challenges of sustainable power networks and develop and apply leading-edge digital-enabled solutions. The class of 2024 have completed a case study combining their industry experience with the skills and knowledge gained during the course. The output of the case study is the poster presented at PowerGRID2025.

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