Confirmed Speakers

Marta Morera Marcé is director of the Catalan Energy Institute (Energy Agency of the Generalitat de Catalunya – Regional Government of Catalonia). She has a Degree in Environmental Sciences, specialization in Environmental Management and Planning from the University of Girona. She also has a Master in Energy for sustainable development, renewable energies and energy efficiency from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Marta has been responsible for Environmental Action at Rubí City Council (a population in the Barcelona metropolitan area with 80,000 inhabitants), as well as technical manager of the strategic project ‘Rubí Brilla’ to spread energy efficiency and renewable generation among local citizens and companies. Since June 2021, she has been the director of the Catalan Energy Institute of the Generalitat de Catalunya enhancing energy planning and prospective, as well as promoting energy efficiency and the development of renewable energies.

Richard Sandford is Co-Chair of the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC), the senior Government and industry forum established to drive the development of the offshore wind sector in the UK, he’s also Chairman of the World Forum Offshore wind (WFO), dedicated to fostering the global growth of offshore wind energy. Since July 2022, Richard has been Vice President at bp, responsible for the development, construction and operations of bp’s UK offshore wind portfolio. He has held senior leadership roles in the offshore wind industry since 2008, before joining bp, he was previously Director of Offshore Development Europe at RWE Renewables, one of the world’s largest renewables businesses.  Richard is an engineer by background and has worked in power generation since 1987, holding various leadership positions.

Christian Schrimpf brings 15 years extensive experience in Renewables Energy in various commercial functions. He is currently heading RWE’s offshore wind development function in Europe and is responsible for a pipeline of 38 projects with a gross capacity of 50GW in total. Previously he was heading the Strategic Partnerships/M&A function for Onshore, Offshore and PV in Europe and the Americas.

Carolina de Mas is an offshore wind advisor for the World Bank Group’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). Carolina holds M.Sc. in both Industrial and Civil engineering and started her career in O&G operations before transitioning into offshore wind development with Orsted (then DONG Energy). Since 2021, Carolina has been providing policy and development advice to governments in emerging markets. She currently leads the World Bank’s offshore wind program in LAC and is also providing support to the Catalan Government to gear up for Spain’s first auction.

Kate Harvey is the General Manager of the G+ Global Offshore Wind Health and Safety Organisation. The G+ is owned by the world’s largest offshore wind operators and WTG OEMs. It is committed to promoting and maintaining the highest possible standards of health and safety throughout the lifecycle of offshore wind farms. Kate began her career in renewable energy at RWE in 2002. Kate then joined SSE in 2008, where she undertook the following roles: Consents Manager for Greater Gabbard, Project Manager for Galloper, SSE Asset Manager for Dogger Bank and Board member of Seagreen. Kate has been the G+ General Manager since 2016. She is also a Board Director of IMCA, the International Marine Contractors Association.

Sergi Ametller, master in Marine Engineering with over 25 years’ expertise in spearheading the design and construction of diverse projects. His illustrious career includes the stewardship of landmark projects such as the Panama Canal Locks Expansion, numerous port terminals, oil and gas jetties, offshore and renewable energy initiatives, and various infrastructural undertakings for both public and private sectors. Presently, he acts as the Offshore Wind Business Unit Director at Sener, alongside holding the esteemed position of CEO at Hive Wind Energy. In this last capacity, he oversees the joint venture between Sener and Nervion Naval Offshore, dedicated to crafting the innovative Hivewind® floating platform for offshore wind applications.

Anna has worked for the offshore wind industry since 2010, starting in Denmark for almost a decade where she’s developed real-scale turbines prototypes validation, design work and leading engineering teams inside R&D sections. It is since 2018 that Anna cofounds the SaaS company Youwind Renewables with the determination to accelerate deployment of offshore wind globally by providing the industry with cutting-edge IT tools. She started with supporting the core modelling and development of Youwind IT platform and nowadays she leads the business side of the company as CEO. Anna is a Mechanical and Energy Engineer from UPC in Barcelona, Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and is also holding a MSc in Wind Power from The technical University in Denmark, DTU.

Sara Xoubanova is the Global Advisory Services Lead at Brown & May Marine Ltd (BMM) and Managing Director at BMM Spain. She is an experienced fisheries and marine environmental specialist, with a track record in the provision of technical support and advice to the offshore wind industry in the UK and internationally (60+ projects, including fixed bottom and floating). Over the last 16+ years her work has been focused on aspects relating to consenting risks, co-existence with commercial fishing, strategic advice, EIAs and ecological monitoring. In her current role at BMM, Sara leads on the provision of strategic advisory services to facilitate co-existence between offshore wind and fishing globally.

Over the last 30 years, Luís Felipe Kessler has dedicated his career to the electric and automation industrial segment. He has occupied several managerial positions and functions in different companies, which gave him a global and deep vision of the energy sector, its operations and trends. Luís Felipe joined Schneider Electric in 2000 and since then had many executive positions with this last 20 years, leading teams in missions in Brazil and in France. Since 2022, he is the Energies and Chemicals Global Sales Vice President . The executive has a title of bachelor in Electrical Engineering from UFRGS – Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, and has done several specialization courses like Marketing in PUCRS -Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul , IFP Training in Oil&Gas Offshore and Downstream specialization in Institute Français du Pétrole in France and master degree as Global Senior Management Program- Ie Business School & Chicago Booth (University of Chicago ) Executive Education – USA and Spain.

Vincent Balès joined Skyborn Renewables in 2010 as Managing Director for France. Since January 2023, he is Head of Europe at Skyborn Renewables, overseeing the Group’s activities in Europe. Alongside his offshore wind activities, Vincent Balès was Managing Director of wpd France’s solar photovoltaic segment between 2018 and 2022. He is capitalizing on his offshore expertise and his convictions in favor of renewable energies to contribute to their development. Previously, Vincent Balès held several senior positions at Alstom Marine, Technip and Nordex. He is a graduate of the École Centrale de Lille, he is member of the French National Council for the Sea and Coastal Areas (CNML) and is an auditor of the French IHEDN and IHEE sessions.

Helene Bøhler has been working with emerging technologies for the past seven years, and is the CEO and co-founder at Vind AI. Helene’s journey has led her to the intersection of industry and transformative technology, in particular during her time at Spacemaker AI. With genuine passion, she aspires to contribute to the transition to renewable energy through the creation of innovative tech products. Helene has a Master in Machine Learning from University College of London (UCL) and a Master in Law from University of Bergen.

Christian Knütel advises on national and international energy and infrastructure projects, particularly in the field of offshore wind; his advice covers all project phases – from project development and the relevant contracts for works, supply and services to project financing. He works closely with the Regulatory, Banking, Litigation/Arbitration and M&A practice groups and coordinates international projects with foreign colleagues. A particular focus of his work, which has been growing for years, is on project-related claims management and advice on project-related litigation, including representation in DAB, mediation, arbitration and court proceedings in Germany and abroad, again with a special focus on offshore wind. Clients appreciate, among other things, Christian Knütel’s technical expertise, his reliable assessment of the prospects of success of legal disputes as well as his negotiating skills and assertiveness.

Marzia Mangoni is actually contributing in the Product Management team as Global Dynamic Systems Product Manager within Prysmian, Trasmission BU. With a PhD in Electrical Engineering and a dissertation on “Dispersed Generation providing Ancillary Services in distribution networks through power electronic interfaces”, she has always worked in the world of energy production and transmission. She previously worked in the renewable energies branch of a leading global renewable energies company as Electrical Package Manager for the E2E process; that is, development, construction and asset management – around 600 MW of onshore wind power plants across Italy.

Anu Eslas is a distinguished leader in the Baltic Sea and Baltic States energy sector, known for her passionate advocacy of offshore wind energy. Over the past decade, she has played a pivotal role in enhancing energy cooperation in the region. Anu has held prominent positions including CEO of the Wind Energy Association in Estonia, Head of Offshore Wind at the Estonian Ministry of Communication, and VP for Offshore Wind Development in the Baltic States at RWE. She has also spearheaded the ELWIND offshore wind project, a groundbreaking cross-border initiative between Estonia and Latvia, and represented Estonia in the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan (BEMIP) initiatives. Currently, Anu serves as the Head of International Business Development at Ignitis Renewables, a leading green energy company in the Baltics based in Lithuania. Her work focuses on strengthening collaboration among Baltic Sea countries as they navigate the transformative changes in the region’s energy landscape

Dr. Amy Robertson serves as the Offshore Wind Group Manager at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the United States, where she has been an integral part of the team since 2010. In her role, she leads activities aimed at advancing the commercialization of the U.S. offshore wind industry. Notably, Dr. Robertson serves as the task leader for the International Energy Agency (IEA) Wind Task 56, focused on verifying and validating offshore wind design tools used in the industry. And, she leads the DOE Offshore Wind System Design & Tool Validation project, where she concentrates on developing, validating, and demonstrating improvements to offshore wind modeling tools to optimize the next generation of floating offshore wind systems.

Iain Grainger has over 30 years experience in offshore marine construction around the world. He spent the early part of his career engineering and managing the installation of major offshore infrastructure before moving into commercial and strategy roles with tier one contractors. Iain is a chartered engineer and has an MBA. He is a past president of the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) and was previously supporting IMCA in expanding its position in offshore renewables. On 1 June 2023, Iain became the new CEO of IMCA.

Carlos is the founder and CEO of BlueFloat Energy, an offshore wind developer with presence in several markets across the globe including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Italy and France, and a mission to accelerate global deployment of offshore wind as a key enabler for the energy transition and economic growth. Mr. Martin has worked in the energy sector for more than 15 years, where he has developed unparalleled expertise in the design, development, financing, construction, and execution of offshore wind projects. Carlos served as Director for Floating Wind at EDP Renewables (EDPR) based in Madrid, where he was responsible for the WindFloat Atlantic project successfully achieving FID in 2017 and led the team in charge of negotiating the necessary permits and regulatory framework.

David is an Executive Director and Head of Energy Transition at the market intelligence provider Westwood Global Energy Group (Westwood), with a specific focus on Offshore Wind, Hydrogen and Carbon markets. He has more than 15 years’ commercial experience across the global energy value chain and has held key Commercial and Regulatory roles at Corus, BP, Mott MacDonald and Wood Mackenzie. David also hosts the Energy Transition Now podcast. He has a degree in International Management and German from the University of Bath.

Stuart joined the Energy Industries Council (EIC) as CEO in 2016, after a 25-year career leading global businesses in oil & gas, power, renewables and defence. Winner of the 2023 ‘King’s Award for International Trade’, and the 2023 OWI ‘Market Intelligence Platform of the Year’, the EIC is energy agnostic and one of the world’s largest energy trade associations with nearly 1000 member companies. Stuart co-chairs the UK Energy Supply Chain ministerial taskforce, is architect of the Energy Exports Conference, which brings 20 inward delegations to the UK annually, and is author of the Survive & Thrive annual report which highlights preferred growth strategies in tough markets.

Gunnar Herzig is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of the World Forum Offshore Wind (WFO) a non-profit organisation founded in 2018 to advance offshore wind energy worldwide. Gunnar has 15 years of experience in the renewable energy industry. From 2009 to 2018 Gunnar held various positions in the renewable energy division of the German energy company RWE focusing on offshore wind. Gunnar holds a degree in International Business Administration from the University of Tuebingen (Germany) and studied as an exchange student at the National University of Singapore (Singapore) and at Harvard University (USA). Gunnar also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Cambridge (UK).