Vattenfall wind boss Gunnar Groebler has been named chairman of WindEurope’s board of directors.
Groebler, a mechanical engineer by background who has been with the Swedish utility since 1999 and is a Recharge Thought Leader, succeeds RES CEO Ivor Cato. Nordex’s Tony Adams becomes the association’s new vice chair.
“We’re at an exciting time for wind energy. The technology continues to evolve and with it costs are coming down. Wind is an increasingly affordable source of power for people and businesses,” said Groebler.
“The next challenge that we face as an industry is to continue ramping up scale as Europe phases out fossil fuels and electrifies its economy. Wind energy is ideally poised to become Europe’s future electricity producer of choice.”
WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson said: “Having one of the world’s biggest renewable energy companies [Vattenfall] at the helm of WindEurope, with its expertise in wind will certainly be a great asset to us.”
Dickson added that Cato had been “instrumental in driving forward WindEurope’s efforts on making the economic case for wind energy in national capitals”.
Wind energy is forecast to install more than 20GW per year from 2030-50 and cover 36% of Europe’s power generation by 2050 under an electrification scenario that is compatible with the Paris climate goals, according to a report unveiled last autumn by WindEurope.
