Vattenfall Wind Chief Takes WindEurope Chair

WindEurope has appointed Gunnar Groebler, Vattenfall’s Senior Vice President for Business Area Wind, as the new Chair.

The Board of Directors elected Groebler for an 18-month term, succeeding Ivor Catto, CEO at RES Group.

Tony Adam from Nordex will become the association’s new Vice Chair, taking the place of Juan River Abbad from Iberdrola.

“We’re delighted to have Gunnar Groebler as our new Chair. Having one of the world’s biggest renewable energy companies at the helm of WindEurope, with its expertise in wind will certainly be a great asset to us,” said WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson.

“I’d also like to thank Ivor Catto for his fine work over the last 18 months. He has been instrumental in driving forward WindEurope’s efforts on making the economic case for wind energy in national capitals. I’d also like to thank Juan Rivier Abbad from Iberdrola who has played an excellent supporting role to Ivor and the association as our Vice Chair.”

According to WindEurope, Groebler has been part of Vattenfall since 1999 holding various positions and as Senior Vice President for Business Area Wind he heads up the company’s wind and solar energy, as well as battery operations.

“It is an honour for me to have been elected as WindEurope’s new Chair. We’re at an exciting time for wind energy. The technology continues to evolve and with it costs are coming down,” said Groebler.

“Wind is an increasingly affordable source of power for people and businesses. 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.”