Offshore Wind Conference 2021 Speakers

Steve Chisholm

Operations Director, Global Energy Group

Steve Chisholm is currently Operations Director – Renewables & Nuclear for Global Energy Group.

Passionate about establishing large scale renewables fabrication within the UK and transitioning the supply chain from bespoke manufacture to volume serial production, he is currently working alongside Global colleagues to deliver one of Europe’s largest offshore wind tower factories.

A senior executive with over 35 years’ experience in the Renewables, Upstream Oil & Gas (drilling, subsea construction, fabrication, facilities engineering) and Nuclear Energy industries his career includes non-executive and executive Board service for public, private, and not-for-profit organisations.

For 15 years he managed companies involved in driving innovation including developments at the cutting edge of welding and materials technology and has co-authored a number of international patents within the sector. His drive to identify and exploit ground-breaking innovation continues as the renewables sector seeks to maximise its competitiveness.

Myrtle Dawes

Solution Centre Director, OGTC

Myrtle is a Chartered Chemical Engineer, with extensive experience in the energy sector. Myrtle has taken on an array of roles, from being an offshore engineer working for BP, designing offshore and onshore infrastructure in the UK and overseas, to driving digital transformation, and now leading the development of technology for net zero in the energy sector.

She was elected to the Institution of Chemical Engineer’s Board in 2015 to 2018, and is currently a member of the Board of Governors at University of Lincoln.

In 2017, Myrtle received recognition for her contribution to business, having featured in Breaking the Glass Ceiling and being selected as one of 100 Women to Watch in the Cranfield FTSE Board Report 2017.

Dan Finch

Managing Director, Ocean Winds UK

Dan Finch has worked within the renewables industry for over 30 years. Holding Engineering and Management roles at all stages from project conception, development, construction and O&M in Hydro and Wind technologies.

Dan is Managing Director of Ocean Winds UK; He is responsible for leading the development of commercial-scale offshore wind generation using fixed and floating wind technology developed by EDPR.

Michael Hannibal

Partner, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners

Mr. Hannibal joined CIP in 2017 as Partner and is responsible for CIP’s Floating wind development and furthermore responsible partner for the technical solutions in relation to the offshore development projects. Mr. Hannibal has worked more than 26 years within power generation business, on different types of power plants, including hydro power generation, substations and electrical transmission and distribution systems. Mr. Hannibal started his career in ABB where he had approximately 10 years as a high voltage engineer and general management positions, followed by approximately 13 years in Siemens Wind Power. Mr. Hannibal has a track record of more than 20 years with renewable energy business, including more than 7 years as CEO Siemens Offshore Wind, a business setup with factories in different regions and more than 8000 employees globally. Mr. Hannibal played a key role in the remarkable growth of the wind sector, and the positioning of Siemens Wind Power as a global market leader in offshore wind and a top three player in onshore wind. Mr. Hannibal has through the years been a major driver of the constant development of offshore wind, the industrialization of the offshore wind sector and making offshore wind real, and part of the energy mix in many countries.

Dr Carolyn Heeps

Head of Offshore Wind, Fred. Olsen Renewables

With over 20 years of experience in offshore wind Dr. Carolyn Heeps joined Fred Olsen Renewables in August 2019 as the Head of Offshore Wind, where she is responsible for developing FOR’s offshore wind portfolio in both home markets and new emerging markets. Prior to her current role Carolyn has worked for offshore wind developers (including a previous period with FORL 2007-2010) and in consultancy and has gained experience from a number of international markets in early stage development. She started her career in offshore wind at The Crown Estate where she was responsible for managing the first two UK Leasing rounds and providing environmental policy advice. Since then she has focused on strategic development opportunities in new markets, identifying new opportunities, working with policymakers and regulatory affairs, securing seabed rights and leading early project development activities. Dr. Heeps has a background in the marine sciences and was a successful academic in marine environmental management prior to getting involved in the commercial offshore renewable energy sector.

Molly Iliffe

Principal Consultant, ERM

Molly is a Principal Consultant with ERM, the world’s leading sustainability consultancy. She leads the financial modelling and market analysis of cutting edge hydrogen projects, including the ERM Dolphyn green hydrogen project and the commercial appliances piece of the Hy4Heat project. Much of her work is with corporate clients and investors seeking to develop strategic responses to the energy transition and capture opportunities. Prior to working in hydrogen, Molly spent more than 10 years as a technical and commercial advisor in the renewables sector, including more than five years on the senior management team of a leading renewable energy consultancy business. Molly is seconded part time to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to lead a project with a global group of power utilities to develop best practice analysis and strategic responses to energy transition.

Clare Lavelle

Energy Consultancy Leader, Arup

Clare leads Arup’s Scottish Energy business and is a Non Executive Directors of Scottish Renewables.

She has extensive experience in the Scottish and UK energy sector and has been central to the development of major energy infrastructure and innovation in the UK and Scotland. Clare’s current focus is on the transition of energy systems and developing solutions that cut across industries to enable deep decarbonisation of heat, transport and electricity, with a particular focus on hydrogen.
This includes leading the design and development of SGN’s H100 project in Levenmouth Fife. This world first demonstration of hydrogen production and distribution will supply 100% green hydrogen to circa 300 homes for domestic use. She works closely with government and regulators to shape policy. Clare led the Scottish Hydrogen Assessment Project – a key part of the evidence base to inform Scottish Government’s developing hydrogen policy. She is also currently supporting Crown Estates Scotland on ScotWind leasing round.

Clare has won several awards including the Top 50 women engineers in sustainability, the Karen Burt Memorial Award, and she has an honorary doctorate from the University of Vaasa.

Andrew MacDonald

Senior Innovation Manager, ORE Catapult

Andy Macdonald is the Programme Director at the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP) and Senior Innovation Manager at Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. These roles provide a combination of innovation support for high growth SMEs with business transformation support for the wider offshore wind supply chain. Andy has worked in renewable energy for the last ten years helping to develop companies in the offshore wind and tidal energy sectors.

Claire Mack

Chief Executive, Scottish Renewables

Claire has been Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, the representative voice of Scotland’s renewable energy industry, since October 2017. She is responsible for leading the organisation’s work to grow Scotland’s renewables sector and sustain its position at the forefront of the global clean energy industry.

Claire is a member of the First Minister’s Energy Advisory Board and the Renewable Energy Strategic Leadership Group, co-chaired by Scotland’s Energy Minister.

Before joining Scottish Renewables, Claire was Director of Policy and Place at the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. She has previously worked in various roles at Ofcom in Scotland, focusing on economic regulation of telecoms, radio spectrum and the mail market while also looking at developing digital participation of individuals and businesses.

Prior to this Claire worked in retail and the construction industry as well as on regulation of regional broadcasting in the Borders and North East of England.

Jim Smith

Managing Director, SSE Renewables

Since November 2018, Jim Smith has been leading SSE Renewables, which brings the together the development and operation of all SSE’s renewables assets under a dedicated management team. Jim joined SSE in 1988 and has held a wealth of development, production and management roles within large scale power generation and transmission as well as renewables. Jim has also held roles in Energy Portfolio Management and was responsible for SSE’s generation, gas storage and E&P assets too. He was previously the Managing Director of Renewable Development, responsible for the development and construction of onshore and offshore wind power projects.

Johan Sandberg

Head of Business Development, Aker Offshore

Johan Sandberg has worked with offshore wind since 2008 and has been especially focused on floating wind turbine technology. He spent more than 10 years in DNV GL where he – among other things - had global responsibility for offshore renewables advisory services, responsibility for developing the world’s first design standard for floating wind turbines, and the world’s only guideline for integrating offshore wind with offshore oil & gas assets. In 2019 Johan joined the Norwegian industry conglomerate Aker and is today Head of Business Development in Aker Offshore Wind.

David Stevenson

Head of Energy Supply Chain, Scottish Government

David Stevenson is the Head of Offshore Wind Policy, Large Scale Renewables Infrastructure & Supply Chain, within the Scottish Government’s Directorate for Energy and Climate Change. Main activities include responsible for managing the relationship with developers and supply chain, and other private and public sector project stakeholders with a view to maximising the economic content of energy projects in Scotland. David is a member of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council.

Dave Sweenie

Development Manager, EDF Renewables

David currently works for EDF Renewables, seconded in to the Neart na Gaoithe project as the Development Manager. Neart na Gaoithe has been his home for over 11 years, having originally been the Project Manager through the development stages prior to joining EDF Renewables in 2019 as the project was acquired and taken in to its delivery phase.

A chartered engineer, David has worked in the offshore marine environment for over 24 years. Prior to working solely on renewables, David worked mainly in the Oil and Gas industry working for Fugro and Imes as a structural instrumentation engineer. After a year out to complete his MBA at the University of Strathclyde, David joined Mainstream Renewable Power and worked primarily on the Neart na Gaoithe project.

When he does occasionally step out of Neart na Gaoithe, David works on key supply chain initiatives for EDF Renewables and the wider industry, such as Scotwind, Forth and Tay Cluster, Deepwind, OWGP reference group and various OWIC working groups.

Benj Sykes

Head of Market Development, Consenting and External Affairs, Ørsted

Benj is Head of Market Development, Consenting and External Affairs in the UK offshore wind business of Ørsted, currently ranked as the world’s most sustainable company. He has responsibility for business growth, setting and delivering the company’s sustainability and environmental agendas, and oversight of Ørsted’s relationships across government, authorities and NGOs.

After setting up the company’s Asset Management business, he worked as UK Country Manager, focussing on strengthening the company’s business platform in the UK, the world’s largest offshore wind market. He co-chaired the Offshore Wind Industry Council alongside the Energy Minister, and led the work to agree the Offshore Wind Sector Deal, unlocking the continued growth of the sector. He also served on the Board of G+, providing Health and Safety leadership for the offshore wind sector and on the government-appointed Advisory Panel on Highly Protected Marine Areas.

Benj joined Ørsted from the Carbon Trust where he led their technology innovation programme across a range of novel low carbon technologies.

Previously, Benj worked in the upstream oil and gas industry, most recently at Hess Corporation, a Fortune 100 Oil and Gas company. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society and the Energy Institute.

Olivier Terneaud

Vice President, Offshore Wind, Total

Olivier Terneaud currently leads the offshore wind Team at Total. He began his career in 2004 as a civil servant. He worked first for the French Nuclear Safety Agency then became a technical advisor for the ministry of ecology and energy. After this period in the public sector, he went into the private sector. Until 2019, he had worked for Engie (former GDF SUEZ) in offshore wind projects and infrastructure projects. Particularly, he led an Engie Réseaux agency in Ile de France and was involved in the three French tender rounds. Becoming the offshore wind vice-president at Total in 2019, he has built up with the offshore wind team a performing strategy to allow Total becoming one of the biggest players in the offshore wind industry.

Robin Watson CBE

Chief Executive, Wood

Currently Chief Executive of Wood plc, a UK listed company with over 45,000 employees in 60 countries, Robin has previously served as Chief Operating Officer and an Executive member of the Wood Group Board since January 2013 and was Chief Executive of Wood Group’s Engineering North Sea business since 2010. Over the past 5 years, Robin has led the transformation of Wood from an Oil Field Services Company focussed on the upstream oil and gas market, to an integrated Engineering and Consultancy company across a wide range of growing end markets in Energy and the Built Environment. Robin’s strategic vision has significantly diversified the business whilst achieving growth in earnings and unlocking new markets aligned to energy transition and the drive for more resilient, sustainable infrastructure.

With more than 35 years’ engineering and industry experience, he has spent the last 20 years in a variety of executive leadership positions across a wide range of industry sectors. Having led the $3 Billion, UK LSE Class 1 acquisition of Amec Foster Wheeler (AFW) by Wood Group in 2017, Robin is responsible for creating the Wood we know today, arguably the largest integrated engineering company listed in the UK, and one of the largest of its type in the world.

Claire Canning

OWGP Programme Manager, ORE Catapult

Claire joined ORE Catapult in 2017 and is a Programme Manager for the OWGP. Her key responsibilities involve developing and delivering support programmes that will enable UK offshore wind supply chain companies to grow and become more competitive. Claire’s previous role as Project Development Manager enabled identifying innovative technologies, products, and services with the potential to reduce the costs of operating offshore wind farms and contribute to economic growth.

Claire completed her Engineering Doctorate with the Industrial Doctoral Centre for Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE) where she worked on offshore wind corrosion and biofouling challenges with EDF Renewables. She also has a background in marine biology and conservation. Claire is deeply passionate about the UK offshore wind sector and creating growth opportunities for the supply chain.

Greg Clarke

Head of Corporate Affairs, SSEN Transmission, SSE plc

Greg is SSEN Transmission’s Head of Corporate Affairs, responsible for political policy and media engagement while also holding a key role in the work being done to support a co-ordinated approach to the ScotWind leasing round connections. Prior to this, Greg was Head of External Communications for Scottish and Southern Energy Networks (SSEN); managing external communications and key policy and political engagement for its Distribution and Transmission networks. Greg joined SSE in 2005 and has held various managerial roles within Corporate Affairs, including Group Scottish Public Affairs Manager and Head of Corporate Affairs, SSE Enterprise.

Heather Donald

Head of Project Consents, SSE Renewables

Heather Donald is Head of Project Consents for SSE Renewables, overseeing the team responsible for consenting and land acquisition throughout the development lifecycle across SSE Renewables’ portfolio of offshore wind, onshore wind and hydro projects. Heather is a Chartered Town Planner working in development and consenting roles for over 20 years in both the public and private sectors and in the renewables industry since 2009.

Alice Etheridge

Offshore Coordination Senior Manager, National Grid ESO

Alice has led the Offshore Coordination Project within National Grid ESO for the past year. She has carried out a number of roles in her eight years in the ESO and National Grid, including leading stakeholder engagement for the development of the ESO RIIO-2 Business Plan, leading and delivering our Network Development Strategy and leading engagement and communication on the Future Energy Scenarios. Prior to joining National Grid, Alice spent 9 years in the Civil Service in DECC, Defra and the UK Border Agency.

John Giles

Technical Director, W3G Marine Ltd

The role is to provide Technical development support to the W3G Marine business plan. The W3G Marine business includes the engineering of projects and equipment for the offshore wind and oil and gas industry. W3G Marine has developed several new products which includes piling noise mitigation, foundation stabilisation, carousel core extension, cable lay, and cable lay equipment, as well as other construction projects.

The technology includes the design of large mechanical handling systems, offshore deck equipment, carousel design and ship specification. This includes crane design specification and drawings, calculations and FE analysis. The design process encompasses large wind turbine handling systems with hydraulic shock absorber and snatch alleviation. In addition works has involved the design and FE analysis of laden reel powered frames for cable lay, and cable lay tensioners.

W3G has developed the careers of 8 graduate engineers, coming straight from university, and in two cases achieved chartered engineer status while employed at W3G Marine.

The Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Kwasi Kwarteng was appointed Secretary of State at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 8 January 2021.

He was previously Minister of State at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Kwasi was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Exiting the European Union from 16 November 2018 to 24 July 2019.

Kwasi read classics and history at Trinity College, Cambridge, and then attended Harvard University on a Kennedy Scholarship. He earned a PhD in economic history from the University of Cambridge in 2000.

Before becoming a Member of Parliament, Kwasi worked as an analyst in financial services.

Kwasi was elected the Conservative MP for Spelthorne in 2010. From 2010 until 2013 he was a member of the Transport Select Committee, and in 2013 he joined the Work and Pensions Select Committee where he was a member until 2015.

Eric Leavy

Head of Transmission Networks, SP Energy Networks

Eric has over 45 years’ experience in the networks industry, joining the South of Scotland Electricity Board as an apprentice engineer in Distribution’s Kilmarnock District.

Since then he has held various roles across both Transmission and Distribution working on engineering projects, customer service, asset management and network operations activities.
Recent responsibilities include Network Design for both the Manweb and SPD Distribution Licences and the SP Transmission Licence. He took on his current role in 2015 with responsibility for both design and asset management of SPT ‘s Transmission network.

A chartered engineer, Eric also assists the IET with their Professional Review Interviews.

Lauren Logan

Strategy Manager and Offshore Co-ordination Lead, SSEN Transmission, SSE plc

Lauren is SSEN Transmission’s Strategy Manager and Offshore Co-ordination Lead, responsible for supporting the development of business strategy while maximising opportunities to enable the transition to net-zero. Her main focus right now sees her lead a cross-party project team to connect future offshore wind in the most co-ordinated and efficient way possible; ensuring SSEN Transmission plays its role, as a transmission owner in the North of Scotland, while advocating for a just transition to a net-zero world to meet government targets. This work involves developing strategic infrastructure projects to connect the multitude of additional renewable generation is required to meet net zero, along with the associated energy policy and regulation which will also need to adapt and develop to make this possible. Recent projects also included playing a key role in SSEN Transmission’s successful RIIO-T2 Business Plan development. Lauren joined SSEN Transmission from the energy regulator Ofgem in 2016 and has a degree in politics from the University of Strathclyde.

Kirsty MacArthur

Director, MacArthur Green

Kirsty is a Director for the environmental consultancy, MacArthur Green.

A qualified lawyer, Kirsty’s love of the environment led her to pursue a career working in renewables. Kirsty worked as an Associate for Pinsent Masons’ Planning and Environment team, subsequently working with ScottishPower Renewables’ legal team, before taking on the role of Director for MacArthur Green.

Kirsty has a keen eye on business risk and strategic development, and this has triggered her drive to explore the business opportunities for renewables in the circular economy.

Claire Mack

Chief Executive, Scottish Renewables

Claire has been Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, the representative voice of Scotland’s renewable energy industry, since October 2017. She is responsible for leading the organisation’s work to grow Scotland’s renewables sector and sustain its position at the forefront of the global clean energy industry.

Claire is a member of the First Minister’s Energy Advisory Board and the Renewable Energy Strategic Leadership Group, co-chaired by Scotland’s Energy Minister.

Before joining Scottish Renewables, Claire was Director of Policy and Place at the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. She has previously worked in various roles at Ofcom in Scotland, focusing on economic regulation of telecoms, radio spectrum and the mail market while also looking at developing digital participation of individuals and businesses.

Prior to this Claire worked in retail and the construction industry as well as on regulation of regional broadcasting in the Borders and North East of England.

Ross McGregor

Principal Ornithologist, MacArthur Green

Dr Ross McGregor has more than ten years of experience working on the interactions of seabirds and offshore wind farms as a consultant and statutory advisor. He has worked on a wide variety of offshore wind farms at all stages of their development; from risk assessments of proposed areas in Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) to decommissioning turbines. He has been closely involved in the development of collision risk modelling including the development of a new stochastic model for Marine Scotland. Ross has undertaken environmental impact assessment (EIA) and Habitats Regulations Appraisals and Assessment (HRA) for offshore developments from small schemes to very large (400 turbine) proposals. Ross has also completed work for statutory advisors in the UK, including guidance on offshore wind farm survey buffer sizes, development of decision support systems (DSS) to aid communications of advice to government and assessment of designated sites boundaries. He has been an invited expert on several project steering groups including the development of power analysis tools, generic population viability analysis assessment and species sensitivity to disturbance. Ross has previously worked for HiDef Aerial Surveying, Natural Power Consultants and Scottish Natural Heritage.

Sam Mayall

Founder, Offshore Survival Systems

Award-winning business founder. Having started his nautical career in small vessels Sam has over the years increased his knowledge base and expertise over a wide range of
sectors. Sam has worked and lived in some of the most challenging conditions including the North Sea, taking this experience and putting into practice in the business world.

Sam has always enjoyed a challenge and relies heavily on his practical approach to problem solving and ability to inspire the team surrounding him to accomplish even the most difficult objective.

Ian Milne

Sales Manager, Balmoral

Having spent eight years with Balmoral Group sister company, ACE Winches, Ian has extensive sales management and business development experience of the offshore marine construction sector.
With a passion for renewable energy, he joined Balmoral in 2019 to develop the company’s footprint within the sector. Ian is focused on the international demand for green energy and promotes Balmoral’s suite of engineered solutions on a worldwide basis, embracing the energy, skills and technology transition.

Isla Robb

Founder, EC20 and Supply Chain and Skills Associate Director, RIDG

Isla has an in-depth knowledge of the offshore wind supply chain and has worked across the public and private sector, both nationally and internationally. She has been involved in the offshore wind sector for a number of years, working with and supporting hundreds of companies.

Isla founded EC20 Ltd in 2020, to work with, and connect companies of all sizes that are wanting to understand the offshore wind supply chain better. In her previous role as Offshore Wind Lead for Scottish Enterprise, Isla spearheaded relations with public and private sector companies as well as wind farm developers and turbine suppliers. Working to maximise the supply chain, skills and employment opportunities the sector presented to Scotland as a whole. A major part of this role was supporting and connecting companies, looking at ways to help them increase capability, capacity and win more business.

Dr. Biljana Stojkovska

Technical Manager Offshore Coordination and Innovation Manager, National Grid ESO

National Grid ESO Innovation Technical Manager Dr. Biljana Stojkovska is an esteemed figure in the energy revolution with one of the most transformational projects that the energy industry has seen. The project is called Power Potential and Dr. Stojkovska is leading a multidisciplinary team that is pioneering a whole system approach to connect additional renewable energy in a new regional reactive power market trial. This trial is expected to improve interaction between National Grid’s Electricity System Operator, regional electricity distributors and renewable energy generators connected to the distribution system to create a cost effective new revenue stream for embedded generators and give greater robustness to the power system.

She is also Technical Manager for Offshore Coordination working on strategic development of the offshore network with overall aim to achieve the most economic and efficient network solution for end consumers in order to meet government green future objectives.

Biljana is a Charted engineer and Fellow of the IET. Skilled communicator, experienced in presenting at international conferences, collaborating across multiple sectors and government regulatory bodies.

Sarah Pirie

Head of Commercial, Red Rock Power Limited

Sarah joined Red Rock Power in Summer 2019 and is responsible for the development and implementation of the company’s strategy and the commercial delivery of activities across its European portfolio of renewable energy assets including development stage projects. She also leads its Policy and Regulation team, is a Board Director of Beatrice Offshore Wind Limited and supports Red Rock Power’s 50% shareholding in Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm. Sarah was a planning and environment legal expert specialising in large-scale infrastructure and renewable energy projects for 15 years before moving into the renewable industry full-time. She joined EDPR UK in 2012 and as their Head of Development for their offshore UK portfolio, oversaw the consenting of circa 2GW offshore wind projects in the Moray Firth, including the first Round 3 project to be consented in the UK, as well as supporting projects in France, Poland and the US.

Morag Watson

Director of Policy, Scottish Renewables

Morag is Scottish Renewables’ Director of Policy. Her work involves overseeing Scottish Renewables’ policy function and key projects within Scotland’s leading renewables trade body, working on behalf of 260+ organisations to grow Scotland’s renewable energy sector and sustain its position at the forefront of the global clean energy industry.

Morag has worked in policy for over 15 year and was previously a Senior Policy Officer with WWF Scotland, specialising in climate change, sustainable development and behaviour change.

Chris Willow

Head of Floating Wind Development, RWE

Chris Willow is Head of Floating Wind Development at RWE, the world’s second largest offshore wind developer. Chris is responsible for building RWE’s capability to safely deliver commercial-scale, cost competitive floating projects around the world. This includes leading a portfolio of three demonstration projects and an extensive knowledge management programme, as well as supporting a global portfolio of projects. He has worked in the offshore wind industry since 2007.