About CIRED

The first CIRED Conference was organised in May 1971 by AIM - Association des Ingénieurs de Montefiore, Belgium. At the same time, there was an increase in conferences on electricity distribution in the UK, with events held by the IEE (now the IET) and the UK Electrical Research Association (ERA).

CIRED is one of the most important conferences for electricity distribution, attracting 1,600 attendees and 3,000 exhibition visitors. It is held every two years in a major city in Europe.

In order to avoid a major overlap between the existing conferences, it was decided to hold a conference every two years, under the name of CIRED. Originally alternating between the UK and Belgium, as CIRED has grown in size and importance, the conference now visits a different European location every two years.

History of the CIRED Workshops

From 2008, CIRED Workshops have been held in the years in between the conferences, focusing on a particular topic within electricity distribution.

In November 2024, the CIRED Workshop visited Chicago – the organisation’s first Workshop to be held outside of Europe. The Seoul Workshop is CIRED’s second non-European Workshop, and the first to be held in the Asia-Pacific region.

Conference name

The acronym 'CIRED' is derived from Congrès International des Réseaux Electriques de Distribution; in English, International Conference on Electricity Distribution. Since April 2021, CIRED has been established as an international not-for-profit Association.