Nirupama Prakash Kumar
FREMONT
Summary
Dedicated to driving the energy transition with strategic planning and execution. Demonstrates tenacity and resilience in navigating complex challenges. Committed to fostering collaborative relationships that empower individuals and teams to excel. Proven ability to transform innovative ideas into sustainable practices.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
Work History
Conference Co-organizer
Beyond Chacay/IEEE ITSS
FREMONT
11.2025 - Current
- Helping co-organize a workshop on "Responsible AI Governance for Sustainable Mobility in Sensitive Ecosystems : The Galápagos Archipelago"
Product Consultant (various)
IEEE Smart Village
Fremont
05.2024 - Current
- Involved in a study and preparing a report for the IEEE PES Society and IEEE Smart Village on the best potential and best local clean tech options for various rural Alaskan villages currently using diesel microgrids.
- Technologies include best local combination of solar, wind, storage, geothermal, tidal, micro-nuclear, biogas/biomass and finally diesel generators if needed.
- Best mix is determined thru a combination of best local natural and human capital resources in a remote village.
Lead Product Management Consultant
BoxPower
Fremont
01.2024 - 05.2024
- BoxPower is trying to make high reliability 100% renewable microgrid in a box in the remote rural microgrids space as a distribution replacement for wildfire mitigation.
- I helped them put together a framework for better product development practices to develop a product using a CEC grant.
Sr Product Manager - Systems
Enphase Energy
Fremont
10.2022 - 01.2024
- Worked with Upstart, a residential fuel cell company on finally making residential fuel cells a reality.
- Was the PLM for North America system 3.0, responsible for the whole residential end to end solution for the North American market.
- Worked on and published the IQ Battery 5P Power Start Capability whitepaper, a critical component for the new battery launch.
Sr Product Manager - Microgrids
Bloom Energy
San Jose
04.2019 - 10.2022
- Product Manager for various layered microgrid products like Bloom's Healthcare microgrid offering including creating a deep understanding of the NFPA rules, the OSHPD rules and the CMMI rules which will enable Bloom to become a full system healthcare microgrid.
- Bloom's Retail microgrid offering including a strong understanding how to become a full store microgrid given Bloom load following constraints, pricing and cost constraints, tariff constraints, load control constraints and seasonal load constraints.
- Bloom's Energy Server Skid 'mobile microgrid' offering to enable quick installs to save on labor and install time onsite.
- Product Manager for Bloom's Biogas offering, one of three major fuel sources for Bloom Fuel cells, including deep understanding of domestic and international markets like LCFS and Bloom's unique play in these markets.
- Worked on bringing Biogas clean up partners for Bloom's biogas cleanup process.
- Product Manager for Bloom's CHP offering, including deep understanding of increasing overall Bloom efficiency thru heat to increase the market for Bloom's natural gas offering in restrictive markets as well as to meet California's GHG emissions target.
Sr Manager - Control and Communication Software
Smart Wires Inc
Union City
06.2016 - 03.2019
- 'Quarter Back' for the company's 'End to End Control and Communication' software product, our wireless, highly cyber secure software control platform that enables communication and control to and from the devices.
- Product Manager for the 'PowerLine Coordinator' device, a wireless communication platform.
- Managed the products across different stakeholders and global teams consisting of 100 plus engineers in multiple countries and time zones.
Project Manager Business Development
NextEra Energy Resources
Juno Beach
06.2015 - 06.2016
- Examining optimization and savings schemes for storage operation in proposal responses.
- Examining storage viability in our existing and new renewable energy sites.
- Examining methods of incorporating storage evaluation tools.
Technical Product Consultant
NextEra Energy Analytics
Minneapolis
05.2014 - 06.2015
- Ideation and development of products for solar as well as storage impact analysis.
- Ideation and product development of EMS and DERMS Integrated hardware software systems.
- Product Management for Demand Response/Direct Load Control Analysis for FPL.
Consultant
EXELON WIND
Des Moines
09.2012 - 12.2012
- Developed a quantitative and decision analysis based framework for Wind Turbine maintenance strategy to decrease maintenance costs & manage OEM risks which showed the potential to save $2 M in a single wind site while minimizing risks.
Power Systems Research Engineer
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Richland
02.2009 - 04.2012
- Conducted several smart grid and renewable energy integration studies; highlights include:
- US Patents Issued 9240026(parent), 9245297(child), 9269108(child), 9342850(child): 'Forward-looking transactive pricing schemes for use in a market-based resource allocation system'; Authors: David P. Chassin, Jason C. Fuller, Robert G. Pratt, Nirupama Prakash Kumar, Andrew R. Fisher.
IT Project Manager, King County Care program
Clinical Informatics Research Group (Univ. of Washington)
Seattle
03.2007 - 12.2008
- Led a 3-person engineering team to design and implement a software solution to capture and classify patient risk data for a multiyear project for Aging & Disability Services(ADS), Seattle.
Project Manager, Tower Lead and Programmer Analyst
Infosys Technologies Limited
Bangalore
03.2005 - 08.2006
- Led an offshore award-winning project to improve data latency in the news feeds, winning Dow Jones' 'Best Data Solution' in the 2007 Financial News Awards for 'Excellence in I.T'.
- Managed the Sales and Marketing Tower (multiple projects) for the Kodak engagement to maintain and communicate with the users of the various sales and marketing data systems of Kodak.
Lead Systems Analyst
Tata Infotech Ltd. (Now Tata Consultancy Services)
New Delhi
09.2000 - 03.2005
- Led teams and worked on projects for clients in varied domains including e-learning(Skillsoft), Shipping(Stolt-Neilson), Justice(City of Tennessee) and Land Inventory(Govt of Botswana).
Education
MBA - Environmental Finance and Impact Investing, Emerging Markets
Johnson Graduate school of management at Cornell University
Ithaca, NYMS - EE, Energy Systems
University of Washington
Seattle, WABE - Power Systems
University of Mysore
Mysore, IndiaSkills
- Clean Energy Products
- Microgrid technology
- Renewable energy systems
- Technical documentation
- Effective communication
- Product marketing collaboration
- Market research analysis
- Competitive intelligence
- Competitor research
- Utility Scale
- C&I
- Residential
- Rural
Accomplishments
- Conducted a very successful 'IEEE PES Clean Tech Entrepreneurship' Workshop' in Sep 2022 at Univ. of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
- Conducted a very successful 'IEEE HAC Social Return on Investment' Workshop in Oct 2019 in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
- Created an IEEE documentary video on the untold perspectives of the locals on the Galapagos Islands, including their energy situation in Jun 2021; released on the IEEE HAC youtube channel.
- Speaker for Bloom Energy at various engagements including Microgrid Knowledge Conference and Verge Electrify, a Green Biz event.
- Speaker at various IEEE conferences and webinars over the years.
- Opening night speaker at the National Conference of Society of Women Engineers 2016.
- Invited Panel Moderator - 'Sustainable Microgrids & Microutilities', Intelect 2015, Mumbai, India.
- Invited panelist to the 'Harvard Project for Asia and International Relations' 2014 conference to speak on the Energy situation in Asia.
- Conducted a very successful 'IEEE Smart Village Ambassador Program' workshop in June 2015 in Denver, Colorado.
- Speaker of two lightning talks at WE14, the Society of Women Engineers National Conference 2014.
- Frequent reviewer of IEEE papers including Transactions on Smart Grid.
- Member, Energy Policy Committee at IEEE.
- Member, Committee on Global Humanitarian Activities at IEEE Jun 2011- Dec 2012.
- Coordinator, Region 6(Western US) Women in Engineering at IEEE, Feb 2011- Apr 2012.
- Interviewed by Dr. Claire Nelson and featured on March 7th 2014 as a 'Woman in Sustainability under 40' for the Futures forum's Women's History Month - 'Voicing Herstory: Shaping the Future History of Women.
- Co-Founder & Lead at Child Rights and You America, Eastern WA Center, Mar 2010 - Apr 2012.
Countries Visited
- India
- U.S.A
- Canada
- Brazil
- Colombia
- Guatemala
- Ecuador
Timeline
Conference Co-organizer
Beyond Chacay/IEEE ITSS
11.2025 - Current
Product Consultant (various)
IEEE Smart Village
05.2024 - Current
Lead Product Management Consultant
BoxPower
01.2024 - 05.2024
Sr Product Manager - Systems
Enphase Energy
10.2022 - 01.2024
Sr Product Manager - Microgrids
Bloom Energy
04.2019 - 10.2022
Sr Manager - Control and Communication Software
Smart Wires Inc
06.2016 - 03.2019
Project Manager Business Development
NextEra Energy Resources
06.2015 - 06.2016
Technical Product Consultant
NextEra Energy Analytics
05.2014 - 06.2015
Consultant
EXELON WIND
09.2012 - 12.2012
Power Systems Research Engineer
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
02.2009 - 04.2012
IT Project Manager, King County Care program
Clinical Informatics Research Group (Univ. of Washington)
03.2007 - 12.2008
Project Manager, Tower Lead and Programmer Analyst
Infosys Technologies Limited
03.2005 - 08.2006
Lead Systems Analyst
Tata Infotech Ltd. (Now Tata Consultancy Services)
09.2000 - 03.2005
MBA - Environmental Finance and Impact Investing, Emerging Markets
Johnson Graduate school of management at Cornell University
MS - EE, Energy Systems
University of Washington
BE - Power Systems
University of Mysore