Today's guest is David Hardy, CEO of Offshore NA at Ørsted, a Danish energy company. As of 2020, the company was the world's largest developer of offshore wind power. Having served as President and COO of Offshore Wind US, David was recently appointed as CEO of Offshore NA, leading it's mission to expanding the offshore wind industry in North America. Before joining Ørsted, David was in the U.S. Navy and worked at General Electric in sales. David started working in wind energy and power in sales at Vestas in the U.S. and then at Senvion in Germany. After a year at Senvion, he was appointed Executive Director. Moving back to the U.S. in 2020, David found his next position at Ørsted where he was President & COO of Offshore Wind U.S. In late October 2020, David assumed the role of CEO of Offshore NA at Ørsted. He has dedicated most of career to wind energy and production in Europe but is eager to create a thriving industry in the U.S. We talked about a lot in this episode. David walked me through his path to Ørsted and where he sees the company going. We chatted about how the renewables landscape has changed since he first started working in this area, and the path forwards. Then, we had a great discussion about offshore wind, its penetration to date, its future, and how these projects come about and get implemented, at a granular level. Enjoy the show! You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests. Episode recorded November 5th, 2020

Today's guest is David Hardy, CEO of Offshore NA at Ørsted, a Danish energy company.

We talked about a lot in this episode. David walked me through his path to Ørsted and where he sees the company going. We chatted about how the renewables landscape has changed since he first started working in this area, and the path forwards. Then, we had a great discussion about offshore wind, its penetration to date, its future, and how these projects come about and get implemented, at a granular level.

In today’s episode, we cover:

• Ørsted's origins
• David's background
• Past, present, and future of renewables
• US v. European wind markets
• The U.S. hurdles to developing wind energy in the U.S.
• Ørsted's prioritizations of projects
• Who is buying the power & how is it being sold
• The permitting and regulatory hurdles for offshore wind projects
• The role of subsidies and incentives in project development
• The request for proposal (RFP) process
• Environmental considerations and objections to offshore wind

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• Transporting wind energy: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-offshore-wind-needs-to-clear-a-key-hurdle-connecting-to-the-grid/
• US barriers to wind farms: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-01/why-it-s-so-hard-to-build-offshore-wind-farms-in-the-u-s
• The future of wind in the US: has-only-one-offshore-wind-farm-but-thats-about-to-change.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/13/us-has-only-one-offshore-wind-farm-but-thats-about-to-change.html

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