Keynote speakers

Ms. Sæther worked as a political advisor for the Norwegian Labor Party’s parliamentary group from February 2022, before being appointed State Secretary. Prior to this, she worked for the Norwegian Agrarian Association as an advisor for more than six years. Ms. Sæther has also worked for Statnett, the non-profit industry organization Energy Norway, the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature and the Bellona Foundation. Elisabeth Sæther has an MSc in Political Science from the University of Oslo.

Jon Dugstad is Director Wind at Norwegian Energy Partners (NORWEP) and in his position he is heading the organisations efforts in offshore wind. After a long career in financial and strategic advisory, including to the energy industry, Jon joined NORWEP in 2009 and has been a major supporter of the growth of the Norwegian offshore wind industry and its international activities since. He frequently addresses energy and offshore wind topics at industry events. Jon is educated in Germany as a Diplom-Kaufmann (MBA).

Norwegian Energy Partners supports the Norwegian energy industry and has 320 partner companies with a strong base in offshore energy, of which roughly 200 are also offering innovative and cost reducing technologies and solutions to the offshore wind industry.

Executive Director specialised in renewable energies with broad experience in managing Research and Technology Organisations (RTO) and within international R&D organisations. More than twenty years of international experience, including ten years in executive positions in research centres in Spain, the United Kingdom and Denmark. In his actual position as Head of Division at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Wind) he is responsible for the research and innovation strategy for wind energy materials and components of the world leading research organisation in wind energy. He is an influential professional in the wind energy sector thanks to his participation during the last years in executive roles in the International Energy Agency (IEA), Wind Energy Technology Platform (TPWind) and the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA).

Finn Gunnar Nielsen’s research has been focused on the interaction between the ocean (wind, current and waves) and marine structures. In recent time he has in particular worked with the dynamics of offshore wind turbines. I his previous position he headed the research project developing the world’s first full scale floating wind turbine. For this work he in 2018 was awarded the price of honor from the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences – NTVA.

Geir Olav Berg is Chief technical officer and Senior Vice President engineering at Aker Offshore Wind. He is responsible for aligning technology needs with Aker Offshore Wind strategy and growth targets, including research and implementation. Mr. Berg has more than 25 years of experience from the offshore industry. His previous leadership roles include Head of Engineering in the Aker Solutions floating wind business, as well as numerous management positions as VP of Engineering devoted to subsea technology and project execution in the Aker companies. Mr. Berg holds an MSc in Naval Architecture with focus on Cybernetic/Robotics from NTNU, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Catherine Banet is Professor in Energy Law at the University of Oslo, Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law, and Head of the Energy and Resources Law Department, Norway. Her legal research activities focus on energy market design, energy transport infrastructures regulation, renewable energy and notably offshore wind, support schemes and alternative financing models, climate change mitigation measures including carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen regulation. Prof. Banet has a background from the private law practice (Norway, France), the European Commission (DG ENV), U.S. diplomatic mission and academia. She is the author of several books, studies and articles. She is one of the four academic directors of the professional LL.M. programme North Sea Energy Law Partnership (NSELP). She is a member of the Academic Advisory Group of the Section on Energy, Environment and Infrastructure Law of the IBA, and Chair of the Board of the Norwegian Energy Law Association. She is Academic Research Fellow at the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE).

Charlotte Bay Hasager is Professor MSO in Offshore Wind Energy Meteorology at DTU Wind Energy, Denmark.  She has been at DTU Wind Energy almost her entire working life. She started as a research assistant in 1993 and after getting her PhD, she moved on as postdoc, researcher and senior researcher with special competences.

Kristian Holm is Technology Director for Renewables at Equinor. He is a renewable energy expert with 20 years of experience in the wind, solar and hydro business. He has broad experience from design, procurement, manufacturing, installation, as well as operation and maintenance of wind turbines. Previously, he worked at GE Renewables and Kongsberg Group, occupying several positions covering turbine design, manufacturing, operation and maintenance. In his last position, he was heading the renewable business at Kongsberg, focusing on digitalisation of the renewable business and how this will affect the business going forward. He has a master’s degree in Finance and a BSc in Mechanical engineering. Specialties: Renewable energy, Wind energy, Digitalisation, Contract negotiations national and international, Purchase negotiations, union negotiations, supplier management, stock management, assortment management, supplier appraisal, international experience, project management, team management, sales and manufacturing.

Dr Hannele Holttinen is Partner at Recognis. She is acting as Operating Agent of IEAWIND Task 25 and involved in Global Power System Transformation G-PST Pillars 1 and 5. She has her MSc and PhD from Helsinki Technical University, where she is Docent since 2014. She worked previously at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland for more than 25 years in different fields of wind energy and energy system integration research, last years as Principal Scientist. Her main interests are on the impact of wind and PV on power systems and electricity markets.

CEO Knut Vassbotn founded Deep Wind Offshore in 2020, together with the owners Knutsen Group, Haugaland Kraft and SKL. Since then, the company has partnered with the French industry giant EDF Renewables for the projects in Norway. DWO has also started companies in Sweden and South Korea – where it recently gained exclusivity on a major site.

Vassbotn has more than 20 years of experience from the energy sector and has developed floating offshore wind projects across the globe for the last decade. He holds a BSc in Naval Architecture from University of Newcastle.

Jacob Edmonds is Deputy Co-Chair at ETIP Wind, and Senior Director at Ørsted, where he is Head of Innovation & Digital, which includes commercial responsibility for floating technology. Jacob has been at Ørsted for more than 10 years – the past 7 years within the Offshore Wind sector. He has held leadership positions within Cable Installation and Project Development (both regionally and globally).

Roel May is a Research Scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA). His current research interest lies in the interface between science and conservation, and is centered on impacts of renewable energy on wildlife and spatial ecology.

Joanna Martin was selected to be part of Ørsted’s Global Graduate Programme. For her first rotation, she is working as a Concept and Layout Engineer for offshore wind farm development. Prior to that, she has worked as a Junior Consultant at PEAK Wind in the Floating Wind Excellence department led by Ilmas Bayati. She has a double Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Centrale Nantes (France) and the Technical University of Munich (Germany). She has also studied one year at the Technical University of Denmark to specialize in Renewable Energies and Offshore Wind.

José Luis Domínguez-García completed his B.S and M.S. in Industrial Engineering in 2009, and his PhD in Electrical Engineering 2013. He was a researcher visitor at the Institute of Energy, Cardiff University, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, and Huddersfield University, UK, in 2011, 2016 and 2018, respectively. In 2010, he joined IREC as a researcher, and currently acts as Head of the Power Systems Group. His work deals with the grid integration of renewable energy sources, smart grids, and microgrids. He actively participates and coordinates several industrial and research projects focused on renewables power integration, power system stability and offshore grids design and control. He is also the general coordinator of the H2020 COREWIND and INCITE H2020 MSCA ITN project as well as WP leader of others. He has more than 30 journal papers and is co-author of 1 patent.

Alexandra Bech Gjørv is CEO of SINTEF, one of Europe’s largest research institutes. Gjørv has a long executive career in Norsk Hydro and Equinor behind her, including renewable energy and low carbon solutions, automotive parts, as well as staffs and corporate governance. Gjørv has experience as chair and board member of a number of Norwegian and foreign companies. She is a lawyer and was a partner in the law firm Hjort before joining SINTEF. She chaired the independent July 22. commission.

Trond Kvamsdal is a Professor with the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and Chair of the Northwind research centre’s Scientific Advisory Committee. His positions at NTNU are within computational mathematics, i.e., development of new theories/methods within applied mathematics and numerical analysis to make robust and efficient numerical software programs for challenging applications in science and technology. The main area of application is computational mechanics, i.e., both solid/structural and uid mechanics relevant for civil, mechanical, marine, and petroleum engineering as well as biomechanics, geophysics, and renewable energy. He received the IACM Fellow Award (International Association for Computational Mechanics), in 2010, and was an elected member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences (NTVA), in 2017.

John Olav Giæver Tande is Chief Scientist and Research Manager at SINTEF Energy Research (Norway), and a pioneer in floating offshore wind energy. He is the director of the NorthWind research centre, an 8 year, 31.5 million EUR research centre working on innovations to make wind power cheaper, more efficient, and more sustainable. From 2009 to 2017, he was the Director of NOWITECH (Norwegian Research Centre for Offshore Wind Technology). Both centres have been funded by the Research Council of Norway (RCN) and national/international industry. John Olav Giæver Tande received the Mission Innovation Champion Award at the fourth Mission Innovation ministerial meeting in Vancouver, Canada, in May 2019.