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 now open. Please realize that there is a small fee ($268) which is used for catering and the facilities. I hope that you understand.
We welcome poster applications. Poster application has been extended and is now open until October 9th, 2026. If your poster were accepted, you will be 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).. More details will be available soon. Stay tuned. Please apply here:
We welcome tutorials related to GridFM and AI for Grid. Tutorial applications are now closed. If your tutorial were accepted, you will be 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. If your waiver application were accepted, you will be 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. Please sign up here:
The outcome of a GridFM Challenge will be announced at the conference. The challenge will start on October 2nd with a submission deadline on October 25th, 2026. Please check out the details here.
| 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 ) | Keynote 2 (Chair: Ricardo Bessa – INES TEC) | ||
| 9:30 – 11:00 | Grid Foundation Models – State of the Union (Chair: Hendrik Hamann – SBU, BNL) | AI for Transmission Grids (Chair: Marc Lauby – NERC) | ||
| 11:00 – 11:15 | Break | Break | ||
| 11:15 -12:45 | AI Grid Ready Data (Chair: Elissaios Sarmas – EPU NTUA) | AI for the Control Room (Chair: Venkat Banunarayanan – NRECA) | AI for Power Markets (Chair: Farzaneh Pourahmadi, DTU) | |
| 12:45 – 14:00 | Lunch with Tutorials (Chair: Etienne Voss, Alban Puech) | Lunch | ||
| 14:00 – 15:30 | Trusted Grid AI (Chair: Spyros Chatzivasileiadis – DTU) | Digital Twins for the Grid (Chair: Antonello Monti – RWTH Aachen) | GridFM Dynamics (Chairs: Francois Miralles – HQ, Jochen Cremer, TU Delft) | AI for Grid Planning (Chair: Jonghwan Kwon – ANL) |
| 15:30 – 15:45 | Break | Break | ||
| 15:45 – 17:15 | AI Grid Optimization (Chair: Thomas Brunschwiler and Alban Puech – both IBM Research) | AI for Distribution Grids (Chair: Pedro Vergara Barrios – TU Delft and Fei Ding – NLR) | Agentic AI for Grid (Chairs: Tianqiao Zhao – UTA, Jonghwan Kwon – ANL) | Digital Spines and Collaboration (Chair: Ricardo Bessa – INESC-TEC) |
| 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 | ||
A tentative outline of the conference can be found below.
Location: University of Porto; FEUP R. Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto; Faculty of Engineering – University of Porto – Google Maps:
Building coordinates: Administração, R. Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, Mecânica, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
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.
Social event: More details to come.
Organizing committee:
- Ricardo Jorge Bessa – INES 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 – INES 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 Voss – IBM Research