SPECIAL REPORT EUROPEAN POWER LIST 2021 THE PEOPLE AND TRENDS AT THE LEADING EDGE OF EUROPEAN WIND / TOP 100 PEOPLE IN EUROPEAN WIND / 5 TRENDS THAT SHAPED THE TOP 100 / JOIN US AT FINANCING WIND EUROPE 2021 Contents Welcome 3 How we did it 4 Our criteria 5 Our judges 6 What does the European Power List tell us about the market? 8 Our top 100 profiles 18 Q&A Interview: Nigel Slater 20 The European Power List 2021 in full 26 The European Power List 2021 is proudly sponsored by: SUPPORTING SPONSORS Copyright © Tamarindo Group / A Word About Wind / Energy Storage Report. This report or any part thereof should not be distributed or reproduced without the express permission of Tamarindo Group / A Word About Wind / Energy Storage Report. Please contact [email protected] for all enquiries including distribution, reproduction and membership. EUROPEAN POWER LIST 2021 Welcome It is ten years since we started ranking the top These leaders now face a major challenge. They people in European wind. will all play crucial roles in making sure that wind is key to the ‘green recovery’ from Covid-19. Since then, we have published seven top 100 lists This will not be easy. We see major obstacles to with a European focus. First, we did this in our the rollout of wind across Europe. annual Top 100 Power People. Now we do this regularly in the European Power List. Over the For example, last month WindEurope warned years we have featured a total of 337 of wind’s wind installations of 14.7GW in Europe in 2020 most influential people in these reports, and ten are not enough to meet long-term carbon from that first list still feature today. reduction targets. It said investors were being held back by slow permitting processes. Wind in Our top 100 has changed a lot. Sometimes this is Europe has come a long way in the last decade, due to changing market dynamics. Key individuals but there is a long way to go – and strong from oil giants did not feature as strongly in leadership is vital. a wind list ten years ago as, back then, many wouldn’t give wind a second look. The fact they We hope you enjoy this report, and would like now do is testament to the work that wind’s to thank our readers, our judges and everyone leading people have done over the last decade. who shared their nominations. And frankly, sometimes those changes are driven by changes in our criteria, as we seek to respond to new market dynamics. One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is our commitment to celebrating the most influential people in European wind. You can find out who they are and how we do this in the coming pages. 3 EUROPEAN POWER LIST 2021 How we did it The editorial and content team of A Word About Wind and Energy Storage Report began the process to develop this year’s European Power List in December 2020. The process To maintain the European Power List’s credibility, we followed the below research process. ■ 4th December 2020 ■ 15th February Following the completion of the Green Fund Received feedback from judges Power list, desk-based research for the European Power List began. This involved examining the ■ 22nd February market and highlighting individuals. Decided on the final 100 ■ 5th January 2021 ■ 25th February Opened the floor for nominations on our various Completed the rankings and commenced report digital platforms. production. The positions and views in this report are those of our editorial staff, and our ■ 5th February decisions are final. Closed nominations and restarted research on each individual on the ensuing list to compile a ■ 10th March 2021 longlist. Over 300 individuals were considered. European Power List 2021 published ■ 8th February Shared the longlist with our judges We have made every effort to be comprehensive, and to ensure that profiles are accurate at the time of publication. If there are important factual inaccuracies you feel need correction, please contact us at [email protected]. 4 EUROPEAN POWER LIST 2021 Our criteria Our European Power List includes the 100 However, those three criteria are not exclusive. business leaders in Europe that exert the most We have also considered each entrant based on influence on the wind industry through their their individual merits and visible activity in the deals, innovations and strategic thinking. sector since the start of 2020. Our aim is to ensure that our top 100 represents the range Our interest is the leaders and deal-makers who of businesses, individuals and technologies that shape the financial side of the wind industry contribute to the success of the wind sector globally and are based in Europe. The top 100 now and in future. includes key people at the industry’s leading developers, investors, lenders, manufacturers Our decisions are final. and utilities, as well as their financial advisors, and those working for corporate energy buyers. Our main exception is law firms, which we cover in our dedicated Legal Power List reports. This means that our top 100 focuses on chief executives, divisional heads and other members of senior management teams. They are the ones who tend to contribute to the broader success of the wind industry in one of the three following ways. ■ By shaping the strategies of the sector’s leading companies, which play an integral role to the financial performance of the industry as a whole. ■ By working on the largest and most complicated deals and projects, which help unlock major investment in the sector while generating interest. ■ By working on deals and developments that help to unlock new investment opportunities for wind, both in terms of geography and/or technology. 5 EUROPEAN POWER LIST 2021 Our judges Our editorial and content team worked with the following expert judges to gain an independent view on who we should include in our final top 100. Natasha Luther-Jones Natasha Luther-Jones is a partner, Global Co-Chair of Energy and Natural Resources sector and International Co-Head of Sustainability and ESG at DLA Piper. She has over 20 years’ experience working on energy projects, primarily in the wind sector, advising on developments, investments, acquisitions, disposals, financings and re-financings, as well as all types of PPAs. Natasha is also one of the authors of DLA Piper reports including: the future of European Offshore Wind, Europe’s Subsidy-free Transition and the Digital Transformation in Energy and Natural Resources. The independent legal sector rankings from Legal 500 refer to her as “exceptional”, “a go-to name in the renewable energy space”, “fantastic”, “forward-thinking” and a “no-nonsense deal maker”, and she is also ranked as a ‘Leading Individual’ for renewable energy. Natasha and her team were awarded ‘Projects, Energy & Natural Resources, Firm of the Year’ from Legal 500 UK Awards 2020 and Tier 1 legal advisor ranking for two consecutive years by Legal 500 UK 2020-21. Per Hornung Pedersen Per spent 20 years in various managerial positions at companies in a range of sectors before entering wind in 2000, as CFO at NEG Micon/ Vestas. He moved to Indian manufacturer Suzlon in 2004, where he was responsible for all international operations. He then took over at REpower (now Senvion) in 2007 and, in his role as CEO, doubled turnover to €1.3bn. Per left REpower in 2011 and, since then, has been active on a number of supervisory boards as well as acting as industry adviser to a number of private equity funds and other companies. Per is chairman of the board of German listed developer PNE Wind, non-executive director of Swire Energy Systems, non-executive director of Suzlon in India and SeaTower AS in Norway. He is also senior adviser to McKinsey and holds a number of additional advisory positions. 6 EUROPEAN POWER LIST 2021 Richard Heap Richard has worked in financial journalism since 2005, specialising in commercial real estate, renewable energy and technology. He joined Tamarindo Group in 2014 and became the company’s editorial and content lead in January 2020. This role includes being editor-in-chief of A Word About Wind and Energy Storage Report; setting the editorial direction of the Financing Wind conferences and other virtual events; leading the company’s report programme, including the European Power List; and partnering on written and multimedia content with experts from all over the global renewable energy industry. This gives him a wealth of knowledge about the key players in renewable energy and finance. Before Tamarindo, he led Profit Track 100 and Tech Track 100 for Sunday Times Fast Track; and spent five years at multi-award-winning magazine Property Week. Our mission is to accelerate the global adoption of renewable energy and clean technology through better communications and stronger networks. We do this by giving industry players, from established leaders to fast-growth pioneers, both voice and stage. To nd out how we can help you deliver against your commercial goals, get in touch: [email protected] | +44 (0)20 7100 1616 TAMARINDOGROUP.COM What does the European Power List tell us about the market? Ten years of ranking the most influential people in European wind has given us a front row seat for some of the biggest changes facing the sector. In this article, we look at five of the biggest trends that have shaped this list. KEY TRENDS Changes at the top of some of wind’s leading players Every top 100 list sees some change at the top of However, the challenge for the wind industry is wind’s most influential firms, but the period since making sure that the next generation of leaders is our last European Power List in 2019 has seen able to learn from these experienced players.