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 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. Please sign up here:
The outcome of a GridFM Challenge will be announced at the conference. The challenge is NOW OPEN with a submission deadline on October 25th, 2026.
Please check out the details here.
The current conference schedule can be found below.
| 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 | 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 | ||
| 9:30 – 11:00 | Grid Foundation Models – State of the Union (Chair: Hendrik Hamann – SBU, BNL) Main Auditorium | AI for Transmission Grids (Chair: Mark Lauby – NERC) Main Auditorium | ||
| 11:00 – 11:15 | Break | Break | ||
| 11:15 -12:45 | AI Grid Ready Data (Chair: Elissaios Sarmas – EPU NTUA) Main Auditorium | AI for the Control Room (Chair: Venkat Banunarayanan – NRECA) Main Auditorium | AI for Power Markets (Chair: Farzaneh Pourahmadi, DTU) Room B035 | |
| 12:45 – 14:00 | Lunch with Tutorials (Chair: Etienne Vos, Alban Puech) in Main Auditorium, Rooms B035, B025, and B031 | Lunch | ||
| 14:00 – 15:30 | Trusted Grid AI (Chair: Spyros Chatzivasileiadis – DTU) Room B035 | Digital Twins for the Grid (Padraic McKeever – Fraunhofer Institute) Main Auditorium | GridFM Dynamics (Chairs: Francois Miralles – HQ, Jochen Cremer, TU Delft) Main Auditorium | AI for Grid Planning (Chair: Jonghwan Kwon – ANL) Room B035 |
| 15:30 – 15:45 | Break | Break | ||
| 15:45 – 17:15 | AI Grid Optimization (Chair: Thomas Brunschwiler and Alban Puech – both IBM Research) Main Auditorium | AI for Distribution Grids (Chair: Pedro Vergara Barrios – TU Delft and Fei Ding – NLR) Room B035 | Agentic AI for Grid (Chairs: Tianqiao Zhao – UTA, Jonghwan Kwon – ANL) Room B035 | Digital Spines and Collaboration (Chair: Ricardo Bessa – INESC-TEC) Main Auditorium |
| 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:
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.
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