2nd Grid of Tomorrow Consortium Event

Following the success of the January 2025 workshop, members and friends of Purdue's Grid of Tomorrow Consortium will reconvene on August 13, 2025.
This second event is kindly hosted by Pacific Gas & Electric at the San Ramon Conference Center in San Ramon, California. Thank you, PG&E!

EVENT DETAILS

Dates

August 13, 2025

Hosted by PG&E

San Ramon Valley Conference Center
3301 Crow Canyon Rd
San Ramon, CA 94583

Hotel Recommendation

San Ramon Marriott
2600 Bishop Dr
San Ramon, CA 94583
1 (925) 867-9200
Booking Link
Special rate cutoff date: July 27

WORKSHOP GOALS

This event aims to build on the momentum of the inaugural workshop by deepening collaboration among utilities, technology companies, and Purdue researchers. Hosted by PG&E, the second convening will focus on refining high-priority challenges, accelerating the co-development of implementable solutions, and aligning workforce development strategies with the evolving needs of the grid.

ORGANIZATIONS IN ATTENDANCE:

AltaLink
Amazon Web Services
Analog Devices
Applied Systems Engineering, Inc.
California Energy Commission
California Hydrogen Business Council
California Independent System Operator (CAISO)
Camel Microelectronics, Inc.
City of Palo Alto Utilities
Eaton
EDF (Electricit� de France)
EPRI
Emerald AI
GridCARE
Gridsight
H and H Energy
Hitachi Energy
Icebox Energy
IEEE PES Santa Clara Valley
IEEE Power & Energy Society San Francisco Chapter
Intel Corporation
Itron
Jacobs Solutions
JDM Associates, LLC
K&A Engineering Consulting
Kalkitech / ASE
Keadjian Associates
Kinectrics
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
MasTec West

Midcontinent ISO (MISO)
Northern Indiana Public Service Company
PG&E
PacifiCorp
Plug and Play Tech Center
Purdue Research Foundation
Purdue University
Quanta Technology
RTE / Linux Foundation Energy
Realize 2050
S&C Electric
Santa Clara University
Schneider Electric
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories
Sigma Materials Inc
Splight
Switched Source
Tesla
TRC Companies
The Ad Hoc Group
The Public Advocates Office (Cal Advocates) at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)
UC Santa Cruz
Ubicquia
University of California Office of the President
Uplight
Vehicle-Grid Integration Council
Volta Semiconductor, Inc.
World Resources Institute

Presenters

Dionysios Aliprantis

Professor, Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Shay Bahramirad

Vice President of Transmission and Distribution Engineering | Pacific Gas & Electric

Joe Bentley

Senior Vice President, Electric Engineering | Pacific Gas & Electric

AJ Booth

Senior Director, Energy Products Engineering | Tesla

Carlos Caldart

Chief Operating Officer | Splight

Luis D'Acosta

EVP, Utility Solutions | Schneider Electric & CEO | Uplight

Nicholas Domich

Principal, Utility Partnerships - Large Load/Capacity Strategy | Pacific Gas & Electric

Vassilis Kekatos

Associate Professor, Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Reza Khaj

Investor | Plug and Play Ventures

Andrew Liu

Associate Professor, Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering

Xiaonan Lu

Associate Professor, School of Engineering Technology

John McDonald

Founder and CEO | JDM Associates, LLC

Danielle Osborn Mills

Principal, Infrastructure Policy Development | CAISO

Shaneez Mohinani

Vice President, Head of Strategy and Operations | GridCARE

Aleksi Paaso

Vice President, Distribution | Quanta Technology

Patti Poppe

Chief Executive Officer | Pacific Gas & Electric

Junjie Qin

Assistant Professor, Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Arvind Raman

John A. Edwardson Dean, College of Engineering
Robert V. Adams Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Todd Ramey

Vice President, Markets and Digital Strategy | MISO

Siva Seetharaman

Assistant Professor, Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering

Wen Tu

Senior Director - Integrated Grid Planning | Pacific Gas & Electric

Aroon Vijaykar

Senior Vice President of Strategy and Commercial | Emerald AI

AGENDA FOR THE DAY

Wednesday, August 13, 2025
8:45 - 9:27 AM	Breakfast
9:27 - 9:31 AM	Safety Speaker Safety Moment
9:31 - 9:50 AM	Welcome & Progress Joe Bentley, Senior Vice President, Electric Engineering, Pacific Gas & Electric \| Arvind Raman, John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering View the Recording
9:50 - 10:20 AM	Lightning Research #1: Machine learning for expediting power system computations Vassilis Kekatos, Associate Professor, Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering \| Siva Seetharaman, Assistant Professor, Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering View the Recording
10:20 - 10:25 AM	Stretch Break
10:25 - 10:55 AM	Lightning Research #2: Untapping the potential of demand flexibility and grid edge resources Junjie Qin, Assistant Professor, Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering \| Andrew Liu, Associate Professor, Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering View the Recording
10:55 - 11:00 AM	Stretch Break
11:00 - 11:30 AM	Lightning Research #3: Fast dynamic simulations for inverter-based resources Dionysios Aliprantis, Professor, Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering \| Xiaonan Lu, Associate Professor, Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering View the Recording
11:30 - 11:35 AM	Stretch Break
11:35 AM - 11:55 AM	Call to Action: what the consortium includes \| Help us shape what is next Joe Bentley, Senior Vice President, Electric Engineering, Pacific Gas & Electric \| Arvind Raman, John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering View the Recording
11:55 AM - 1:00 PM	Lunch
1:00 - 1:35 PM	Panel Session #1: Powering the Electrified Future: Challenges Today, Solutions for Tomorrow Moderated by: John McDonald (NAE Member) Panelists: Luis D'Acosta (Schneider Electric) \| AJ Booth (Tesla) \| Aleski Paaso (Quanta Technologies) View the Recording
1:35 - 1:40 PM	Stretch Break
1:40 - 2:15 PM	Panel Session #2: Interconnections and Reliability in a High Renewables Grid Moderated by: Andrew Liu (Purdue) Panelists: Todd Ramey (MISO) \| Danielle Mills (CAISO) \| Shay Bahramirad (PG&E) \| Carlos Caldart (Splight) View the Recording
2:15 - 2:20 PM	Stretch Break
2:20 - 2:55 PM	Panel Session #3: Innovation at the Grid Edge Moderated by: Wen Tu (PG&E) Panelists: Reza Khaj (Plug and Play) \| Aroon Vijaykar (Emerald AI) \| Shaneez Mohinani (GridCARE) View the Recording
2:55 - 3:00 PM	Stretch Break
3:00 - 3:50 PM	Fireside Chat: Patti Poppe, Pacific Gas & Electric and Arvind Raman, John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering View the Recording
3:50 - 4:00 PM	Close