WHO WE ARE
Donna Hydrick
President & CEO
Taylor Kelly, PhD.
Vice President
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Ruben Arredondo
Vice President
Ms. Hydrick has over a decade of experience in the renewable energy industry, both domestically and internationally. She began her career as a senior project manager with a start-up pairing solar developers and brokers seeking to monetize tax credits, assisting with high-profile investments. She later worked as a senior project manager on over 32 projects with an independent power producer that developed, installed, built, and owned solar power generation facilities throughout the world.
She later became president of another solar energy project developer where she gained deep experience leading renewable energy project planning, working in EPC field, partnering with international manufacturers and installers throughout the world, developing reliable resource management connections that help clients source high-quality materials, construction teams, all with competitive pricing. She has play a primary role in developing over 65 microgrids and utility scale projects in the western United States, Australia, Puerto Rico, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Iraq.
A native Hawaiian and native of Hawaii with deep roots in Utah, she is well-versed in project planning methodologies, organizational change management, project processes and team building.
Ruben is a solutions-oriented and business-sensitive energy professional who transitioned from a pivotal role regulating utility scale renewable and electrical infrastructure in western North America as in-house counsel at NERC (WECC), to a strategic advisor for a broad spectrum of clients within the energy sector, including utility-scale renewable energy developers, microgrid
and virtual power plant innovators, as well as state and international regulatory bodies. With a keen eye for business development and a knack for navigating complex regulatory environments, he excels in fostering collaborative efforts among diverse project teams to enhance project viability and profitability. His unique blend of legal expertise and commercial insight, coupled with a history of managing top-tier legal firms and navigating high-stakes litigation, equips him with the agility to drive capital-intensive
energy projects from conception to commercial operation. Ruben’s hands-on experience across all phases of project development, including financial investment decision (FID) pre-NTP, post-NTP, and COD stages, positions him as an asset to energy and storage developers seeking practical,
efficient, and impactful solutions to advance their high-yield projects.
Dr. Kelly began her career in energy storage developing stretchable and solid state lithium ion batteries using engineered polymer electrolyte materials. Today Dr. Kelly uses her expertise to support the development and deployment of various energy storage technologies. Her experience spans the lifecycle of energy storage technologies, from resource extraction through decommisioning and end of life mamangement options. The core of her work centers around technology assessment. She leads and assists in projects that: track the commercial development of various energy storage products; create technology agnostic testing protocols to enable side-by-side comparisons of electricity storage technologies; follow the development, deployment and operation of long duration energy storage systems to report technical findings; lessons learned and community impacts; produce resources for improving safety of battery energy storage systems; provide insigh in the potential value of implementing sustainability and circular economy practices into decisionmaking of provurement and management of energy storage technologies.
Taylor is a native Hawaiian born in Hawaii and currently residing in Texas. She and her sons love dancing hula and singining Hawaiian songs. In their free time, Taylor and her family enjoy traveling and spending time in the outdoors, preferably at the beach.
Jose has an extremely broad energy perspective having represented developers, landowners, and electric and wastewater utilities. His roles included general manager of a major utility, vice president of a wastewater utility, various leadership positions in electric utility system planning, strategic planning, corporate communications and operations, and head of submarine maintenance nuclear quality assurance.
Jose has extensive regulatory experience in both the regulated utility and non-regulated spaces. He has provided expert witness testimony in 17 public utilities commission dockets. He helped developer clients with RFP bid preparation resulting in four of four PPAs being awarded in the Hawaiian Electric Stage 1 and 2 RFPs. Jose has assisted with interconnection agreement and PPA negotiations and subsequent PUC docket approval processes and is well-known in Hawaii energy circles. Jose received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer sciences, and nuclear engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jose is a licensed professional engineer from Hawaii residing in Texas. He served in the United States Navy as a nuclear submarine officer. He served on the boards of several community organizations including the Hawaii Island United Way, Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, and President and CEO of the Waikiki Ranch Board of Directors. He is currently a board member of the Hawaii Clean Power Alliance.
