Green giants exit, US offshore tradewinds and hydrogen steps on the gas – Recharge

The CEOs of two of the biggest names in global renewable energy headed for the door this week.

First to announce his departure was Henrik Poulsen of Orsted, who will leave the offshore wind giant by February next year at the latest.

The resignation of the fossil-to-wind trailblazer prompted an outpouring of tributes from normally hard-bitten financial analysts, who hailed his transformational role at the Danish group.

Poulsen was non-committal over his future plans, but confirmed they don't include leading the energy transition of another oil and & gas group.

The second high-profile exit was Markus Tacke at Siemens Gamesa "by mutual agreement". Unlike Poulsen, Tacke won't be hanging around until a successor is found the turbine OEM immediately named offshore chief Andreas Nauen as his replacement.

Recharge spent the latter part of last week providing comprehensive coverage of US Offshore Wind 2020 Virtual, as official news provider to the high-profile industry event.

You can read all the great news, analysis and interviews from the conference at our special virtual newsletter page here.

But Recharge kicked-off the proceedings in style with two exclusive in-depth articles a long-read interview with Thomas Brostrm, the North America chief of Orsted, and a feature on the transmission challenges facing US offshore.

Hydrogen is never far from the energy transition headlines, with global players descending on the emerging sector from all directions.

This week it was the turn of utility giant RWE, which said it may kit-out a new LNG terminal to accept green hydrogen, and oil & gas player Repsol, which wants to use the gas in synthetic fuels.

Even the nuclear sector is getting in on the act, and a report from a UK government-backed agency warned that the nation may need nuclear hydrogen to hit its stretching net-zero ambitions.

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Green giants exit, US offshore tradewinds and hydrogen steps on the gas - Recharge