Swedish energy giant Vattenfall announced Ulrika Ritzén, formerly of ABB and Hitachi, as its new head of onshore wind within its Business Area Wind unit.
Ritzén worked for years at ABB’s Offshore Wind Connections business group covering alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) stations, as well as reactive power control systems and land and subsea cable laying.
More recently she was with Hitachi as senior vice president of network control.
“What attracted me to join Vattenfall is what the company stands for and its frontrunner position in the energy industry,” said Ritzén, who assumes her new role 13 November.
“I much look forward to contributing to this growth in my role as Onshore Wind head.”
The Swedish state-controlled group is a major player in European wind energy with projects across the continent.
Its wind power division has stumbled of late, seeing substantially lower income due to low electricity prices that helped push down overall profits during the third quarter.
Net sales in the wind business dropped to SKr8.08bn ($722m) in the third quarter of this year, from SKr8.16bn a year earlier, while underlying earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) fell to SKr854m, from SKr5.23bn in the third quarter of 2022.
It has seen setbacks in the UK as well, where it stopped development of the 1.4GW Norfolk Boreas project last summer due to inflationary headwinds that raised capex by 40%, the firm said.
Vattenfall said it will “examine the best way forward” for the rest of its Norfolk zone, which also includes the same-sized Norfolk Vanguard project and totals some 4.2GW.
The group took a SKr5.5bn ($536m) earnings impairment on offshore wind, it said.
Ritzén “joins at a time that is characterised by a complex market environment and conflicting interests making co-existence necessary,” said Helene Biström, head of BA Wind.
“We need to carefully navigate so that we can deliver on the needed build-out for onshore wind. I’m confident that Ulrika’s knowledge, drive and personality will be an important contribution to our business and future successful growth”, Biström added.
