KEYNOTE 1

The Floating Offshore Wind Energy Markets in France and in the U.S.

The global market for offshore wind energy is maturing, while the market for floating wind energy is in its infancy. France and the United States have large resources suitable for both markets. This keynote session will discuss the state of the existing markets and their evolution in France and the United States for both offshore and floating offshore wind energy.

Moderator: Franck Schoefs (University of Nantes)

Prof. Franck Schoefs, PhD, is Professor of Civil and mechanical EUniversité de Nantes, France since 2010. Former Student of Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan, Franck received his Ph.D. (1996) at Université de Nantes and his accreditation to supervise research (HDR) in 2007. He is the head of the TRUST Group (Monitoring, Reliability and Structural Computation at GeM), 40 people, since 2010 and CEO of the ‘Sea and Littoral Research Institute’ (650 researchers) since 2017. He advised President of Université de Nantes about the scientific strategie of Marine Renewable Energy since 2014 and is member of the board of West Atlantic Marine Energy Community since is foundation (2015). He is member of the Scientific Committee of the network of French Marine Universities (16 Universities). His main research field concerns reliability, inspection and maintenance of offshore structures including the modeling of degradation processes (corrosion, biofouling, ..).

Speaker #1: Walt Musial (NREL)

Walt Musial is a principal engineer and the manager of Offshore Wind at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) where he has worked for 30 years. In 2003 he initiated the offshore wind energy research program at NREL which he now leads. Walt also developed and ran NREL’s full scale blade and drivetrain testing facilities for 15 years. Earlier, Walt spent five years in the commercial wind energy industry in California. He studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, specializing in energy conversion with a focus on wind energy engineering. He has over 100 publications and two patents.

Speaker #2: Derek Stilwell (GE)

As Commercial Leader for North America for GE Renewable Energy -Offshore Wind, Derek Stiwell is responsible for Market and Business Development, Equipment and Maintenance Services Sales and Marketing for GE Offshore Wind in North America. With 25 years in Energy across the Americas and > 10 years in Wind, Derek’s experience spans North and Central America, Geothermal and Gas development and power marketing. In the last decade, Derek led sales efforts that resulted in the introduction of onshore and offshore wind turbines in the US, Canada and Mexico, including the 6MW Haliade Offshore Wind Turbines installed at Block Island, and is currently leading the market introduction of GE’s 12 MW HALIADE – X, in the US. Responsible for GE Offshore Wind efforts in Market, Business, and Commercial development in North America, Derek represents GE in various US Offshore Wind committees, working groups and organizations such as AWEA, the Business Network for Offshore Wind and other key market stakeholder organizations. He holds an MD from Mexico’s UNAM University, and an MBA from the University of Colorado -Denver. and has international experience in North and Central America

Speaker #3: Matthieu Monnier (French Wind Energy)

As Head of Industry and Offshore wind, Matthieu Monnier supports the development of the wind industry and the energy transition in France at the French Wind Energy Association FEE. He previously worked at the French Ministry of Energy’s European and International Directorate (2010-2011) as a Liaison Officer for the World Bank and Americas-Balkans-CIS, before leading the energy sector of Business France – the French State Agency for Trade & Invest –  Germany in Düsseldorf, for 3 years. Matthieu particularly contributes to the improvement of the offshore wind legal framework and represents the association in all the discussions related to the future of the offshore wind sector, floating and bottom fixed. He is also responsible for the regional action of the association and is in charge of the European affairs coordination at France Energie Eolienne (FEE).