News

Down to Earth Conference 2026 – Safearth Wrap Up

Safearth were elated with the turnout at the Down to Earth Conference 2026 this year which is Australia’s leading conference on earthing, grounding, interference, EMC and lightning. This was the eighth DTEC and achieved record attendance with 150 registered delegates from across Australia (and the world) attending in Newcastle, New South Wales. The program was rich with knowledgeable speakers and topics which generated some great discussions and information sharing – that is what DTEC is all about!

Day 1 was a huge success with Safearth’s senior technical team Stephen Palmer, Bill Tocher and Bill Carman presenting tutorial sessions on Earthing Fundamentals and Advanced Safety Criteria Application. There was lots of learning and great engagement from participants.

Day 2 & 3 saw the official opening of the Down to Earth Conference for 2026. The opening plenary was delivered exceptionally by Energy Queensland on their new major substation design processes.

Here is a list of all the Safearth technical presentations, including several from our Safearth Americas team who took on the long journey to Australia from the US. Topics featured:

  • Substation Fence Earthing – More Is Always Better, Right? – Bill Carman & David Laurence
  • Loaded Touch Voltages… What is the Risk? – Riley Blackwell & Bill Tocher
  • Earthing System Assessments: A Tale of Two Case Studies – Ian McLagan
  • BESS Earthing and the Transmission System: A Case study of Design and Commissioning Testing – Joshua Bowman & Samuel Fishlock
  • An Empty Space – The Greenfield Substation Current Injection Test – Brandon Dobrowski & Keith Wallace
  • The Journey from Conservatism to Performance – the Status of IEEE 80 and 81 – Bryan Beske
  • LV installation Earthing: Understanding the MEN system, its behaviour and common pitfalls – Matthew Bale
  • What could we do better? – Darren Woodhouse
  • Managing Transmission Line Earthing System Related Shock Safety – Bill Carman & Imre Tannemaat
  • The Australian Safety Criteria Evolution – 16 years on – Bill Tocher
  • The American Journey for Confidence in Crushed Rock/Aggregate Resistivity – Bryan Beske & Peter Sebire
  • The Challenges of Geoelectric Modelling for Wide Area Earthing Systems – Paulo Freire & Bill Carman
  • Earthing, Protection and Power Systems Modelling – A holistic design approach – Ben McMurray & Uzair Khan
  • Lightning Protection of Utility Scale Solar Farms – Bill Carman & Franco D’Alessandro

That’s a wrap for 2026, and we cannot wait to attend and speak at DTEC 2028. For more information visit the DTEC website