After the huge interest in Grid Foundation Models at our Harvard GridFM workshop we are very excited that we are getting back together for a GridFM Conference, hosted by INESC TEC in Porto, Portugal on October 29th and 30th, 2026.
Registration is still open. Please note though that we already had to place the food order. This means – although unlikely –
we cannot guarantee full catering services to late registrants.
We apologize that we had to close the poster application form earlier due to the venue capacity. If your poster was accepted, you were informed by October 12th or earlier. There will be a best poster cash awards ($500 for 1st place, $300 for 2nd place and $200 for 3rd place). In addition, selected poster contributions will be invited to develop their work into a full journal paper for submission to a Special Issue of the U.Porto Journal of Engineering (UPJEng). Guidelines for posters can be found here. The document now also includes pointers to local printing services.
Tutorial applications are now closed. If your tutorial were accepted, you were informed by October 6th or earlier.
As at our Harvard conference, students who cannot afford the conference fee can apply for a waiver here until October 9th, 2026. This is now closed. If your waiver application was accepted, you were informed by October 12th or earlier.
Finally, we have arranged a pre-conference social event for a private tour to the Taylor’s Port Cellars in Porto. The tour includes a premium tasting of four of Taylor’s finest port wines with an experienced guide that will take us through the fabled cellars that were originally established in 1692. The feel of the caves the particular smell of wine and port is unique in the world and should not be missed. The event has a nominal fee of 50 Euros and starts at 17:30 on October 28th, 2026 at the Rua do Choupelo 250, 4400-088 Vila Nova de Gaia. Registration is now closed.
The challenge is NOW CLOSED. The outcome of a GridFM Challenge will be announced
at the conference in Porto, Portugal on October 30th starting at 17:15 local time.
STAY TUNED.
The current conference schedule can be found below.
We are pleased to offer participants the option of attending the event online. However, please note that we cannot guarantee optimal technical conditions, seamless connectivity, or uninterrupted access throughout the event.
| Times | October 29th | October 30th | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 – 9:30 | RTE’s AI vision, key initiatives, and future roadmap Gabriel BAREUX – RTE (Chair: Ricardo Bessa – INESC TEC ) Main Auditorium – Online Link | Foundation Models Need Ground Truth: The trusted state of the grid as the ground work enabling AI and Digital Twins Vera Silva – GE Vernova (Chair: Ricardo Bessa – INESC TEC) Main Auditorium – Online Link | ||
| 9:30 – 11:00 | Grid Foundation Models – State of the Union (Chair: Hendrik Hamann – SBU, BNL) Main Auditorium – Online Link | AI for Transmission Grids (Chair: Mark Lauby – NERC) Main Auditorium – Online Link | ||
| 11:00 – 11:15 | Break | Break | ||
| 11:15 -12:45 | AI Grid Ready Data (Chair: Elissaios Sarmas – EPU NTUA) Main Auditorium – Online Link | AI for the Control Room (Chair: Venkat Banunarayanan – NRECA) Main Auditorium – Online Link | AI for Power Markets (Chair: Farzaneh Pourahmadi, DTU) Room B035 – Online Link | |
| 12:45 – 14:00 | Lunch with Tutorials (Chair: Etienne Vos, Alban Puech) Main Auditorium, Rooms B035, B025, and B031 | Lunch | ||
| 14:00 – 15:30 | Trusted Grid AI (Chair: Spyros Chatzivasileiadis – DTU) Room B035 – Online Link | Digital Twins for the Grid (Padraic McKeever – Fraunhofer Institute) Main Auditorium – Online Link | GridFM Dynamics (Chairs: Francois Miralles – HQ, Jochen Cremer, TU Delft) Main Auditorium – Online Link | AI for Grid Planning (Chair: Jonghwan Kwon – ANL) Room B035 – Online Link |
| 15:30 – 15:45 | Break | Break | ||
| 15:45 – 17:15 | AI Grid Optimization (Chair: Thomas Brunschwiler and Alban Puech – both IBM Research) Main Auditorium – Online Link | AI for Distribution Grids (Chair: Pedro Vergara Barrios – TU Delft and Fei Ding – NLR) Room B035 – Online Link | Agentic AI for Grid (Chairs: Tianqiao Zhao – UTA, Jonghwan Kwon – ANL) Room B035 – Online Link | Digital Spines and Collaboration (Chair: Ricardo Bessa – INESC-TEC) Main Auditorium – Online Link |
| 17:15 – 19:00 | Poster Session with Reception (Chair: Tiago André Teixeira Soares – INESC TEC) | Conclusion with Poster and Challenge award winners to be announced | ||
Location: University of Porto; FEUP R. Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto; Faculty of Engineering – University of Porto – Google Maps:
You get the clear marker if you enter “Serviços Académicos Da FEUP” in Google maps.
Accommodations: For general hotel information please use this link.
We also have a block reserved at the Axis hotels.
Please use the Code: GRIDFM_2026 for a 10% discount at the booking website during 27 October to 02 November 2026.
Organizing committee:
- Ricardo Jorge Bessa – INESC TEC
- Hendrik F. Hamann – Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, GridFM.org
- Antonello Monti – RWTH Aachen
- Venkat Banunarayanan – NRECA
- Thomas Brunschwiler – IBM Research
- Spyros Chatzivasileiadis – Technical University of Denmark
- Farzaneh Pourahmadi – Technical University of Denmark
- Tiago André Teixeira Soares – INESC TEC
- Elissaios Sarmas – EPU NTUA
- Francois Miralles – Hydro Quebec
- Jochen Cremer – TU Delft
- Jonghwan Kwon – Argonne National Laboratory
- Pedro Vergara Barrios – TU Delft
- Tianqiao Zhao – University of Texas at Arlington
- Alban Puech – IBM Research and ETH Zuerich
- Keith Benes – GridFM.org
- Jurij Paraszczak – GridFM.org
- Marc Lauby – NERC
- Etienne Vos – IBM Research
Online links:
Main auditorium: https://zoom.us/j/94726375664?pwd=xhYFSv3QqMNExvclWDZ3HyJlN8V2HZ.1
Room B035 (29 October): https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/3787830886026105?p=jl674u9voElqq5Lh5t
Room B035 (30 October): https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/3773137896157996?p=Hc5AfHiGs5FYlIJFL6
Tutorial: From Forecast to Dispatch: Measuring What Probabilistic AI Is Worth in Electricity Markets
https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/3756787205470726?p=iFyPGTlfnfTA7YUmKI
Tutorial: PowSyBl and Dynawo in Practice: Generating Steady-State and Dynamic Power System Datasets for Foundation Models
https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/3456396837887418?p=SOnhmLLzEYa3jxPEpZ
Tutorial: Building Your Own Neural Solver from Scratch with OpenGridFM
https://zoom.us/j/94726375664?pwd=xhYFSv3QqMNExvclWDZ3HyJlN8V2HZ.1
Tutorial: Tutorial on using gridfm-app-distribution
https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/3787830886026105?p=jl674u9voElqq5Lh5t