Enabling Community-owned Energy Systems/Grids:
How can communities safeguard their energy grids? How can they take control over the new and improved energy systems without giving in to the dominating energy structures? And much, much more.
AJ Perkins, Hawaii Pacific Alliance for Worldwide Advancement (HI PAWA) and Fanni Melles, What’s the Future for Smart Cities
AJ Perkins, Hawaii Pacific Alliance for Worldwide Advancement (HI PAWA)
AJ Perkins is an award-winning author, speaker, and the CEO of HI PAWA (Hawaii Pacific Alliance for Worldwide Advancement), a Native Hawaiian-led effort to build the first community-owned utility and hydrogen-powered county in the United States, starting on the Big Island. A LinkedIn Top Voice in Renewable Energy, AJ has helped scale multiple clean tech startups, including Instant ON, where he secured over 3.8GW in microgrid projects and partnerships with companies like Schneider Electric, Bosch, and Honda. His earlier work with TechFlow helped secure a $2.1 billion federal contract and introduced electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure across US military bases. Today, AJ’s focus is on bringing energy ownership, resilience, and economic benefits directly to communities—especially Native, Indigenous, and underserved areas—through clean hydrogen, microgrids, and virtual power plants. He is the author of the forthcoming The Hydrogen Hub Toolkit and speaks regularly at leading energy and sustainability conferences nationwide.