What is a Virtual Power Plant (VPP), and what is a Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS)? What’s the difference between the two? Come find out at this September lunch event on Grid Solutions. Join us on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, from 12 PM – 1:30 PM PST, for this exploratory lunch conversation and networking event at the Perkins Coie office downtown Seattle.
Introductory Speaker:
Vijay Kumar, Partner, Perkins Coie LLP
Vijay leverages his legal, technical, and business experience to protect his clients’ most valuable innovations.
Whether working with emerging companies or international corporations, Vijay Kumar prides himself on thoroughly understanding each client’s core business and developing a customized intellectual property (IP) strategy consistent with their short and long-term goals.
Within the energy and chemical sectors, he has worked on matters involving hydrogen production and storage, fuel cells, oxygen-enriched combustion burners, thermionic energy converters, pressure swing adsorption units, battery systems, mineral extraction and processing, underground coal gasification, carbon capture, chemical processing, biomass conversion, nuclear technologies, solar cells, metallurgical-grade coke production and handling, and other alternative energies.
Within the medical device sector, Vijay has experience with intravascular systems, neuromodulation, implantable stimulation devices, orthodontic appliances, microfluidic devices, cardiac pacing, vascular fluid therapy, and therapeutic ultrasound systems. Utilizing his background in chemical and electrical engineering, Vijay has also worked with clients in semiconductor design and fabrication, wireless speakers, software applications, and other consumer devices.
In addition to procuring patents in these sectors, Vijay regularly analyzes third-party patent portfolios regarding validity and freedom-to-operate concerns, and mines client patent portfolios to identify assets for licensing and divestment purposes. He also has experience with both investor-side and company-side patent-related due diligence, having represented venture capital firms, institutional investors, multinational corporations, and emerging companies.
Before beginning his legal career, Vijay worked in the energy sector at a global industrial gas company and held various engineering roles within operations, design, and commissioning.
Vijay has been recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch and selected as a “Washington Rising Star” in recent years.
Featured Speakers:
Pat Hermann, Portfolio Segment Manager (Demand Response & Residential Energy Efficiency Programs), Seattle City Light
Pat Hermann is the Portfolio Segment Manager for Flexible Load and Residential Energy Efficiency programs at Seattle City Light (SCL), where he leads teams of program managers who design, build, and implement customer energy programs for these portfolios. His past bylines include managing demand response (DR) programs for utilities at a DERMS provider, EnergyHub, conducting energy and financial analysis at Amazon, and analyzing and crafting wholesale power market trading strategies for the PJM market.
Outside of SCL, Pat serves as the Public Power Co-Chair for the Peak Load Management Alliance (PLMA) and is a 2025 fellow of the Clean Energy Leadership Institute (CELI). He has hosted lectures and served on panels that cover flexible energy, distributed energy resources (DERs), and the technical, policy, and economic challenges associated with energy planning and climate change.
Pat holds an MBA and a BA in Environmental Analysis and Policy from Boston University (BU).
Emil Swartling, Vice President, WhyGrene
Emil Swartling is the Vice President of Business Development at WhyGrene, where he leads growth initiatives and partnerships for the company. Prior to joining WhyGrene, Emil spent five years at Amazon Web Services (AWS) supporting the power and utilities sector, helping organizations leverage cloud technologies to modernize operations and accelerate their energy transition. He holds a degree from the University of Washington.
Moderator:
Dr. Bosong Li, Senior Staff Scientist, Washington Clean Energy Testbeds, University of Washington Clean Energy Institute
Bosong Li is a Senior Staff Scientist of the Systems Integration Testbed at the University of Washington’s Washington Clean Energy Testbeds. She leads the work in customized microgrid model development, scenario design and power system simulation, project techno-economic analysis, hardware-in-the-loop tests, and community-engaged technical assistance. Her research interests include optimal control and operation of power systems, distributed energy resource integration, as well as power system security and economics. She received her PhD in Electrical Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.