This is a time for brave wind CEOs. The world depends on you

What do you want to be remembered for? That you ran away when the going got tough, or you found the solutions the world desperately needs?

Iberdrola's executive chairman Ignacio Sánchez Galán and the Statkraft CEO Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal are among the renewable power producers that need to speed up their wind capacity. BP's CEO Murray Auchincloss opted to run away from the challenge.
Iberdrola's executive chairman Ignacio Sánchez Galán and the Statkraft CEO Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal are among the renewable power producers that need to speed up their wind capacity. BP's CEO Murray Auchincloss opted to run away from the challenge.Photo: Iberdrola / Bjørg Davidsen, Europower / BP

Everyone has to electrify. That is why decision makers in the renewable energy industry have the most important jobs in the world right now. Through legacy companies, start-ups or oil majors that move into a renewable era.

You’re not just in your job to make your company successful. You’re part of the squad that has to save the planet via electrification.

If that task doesn’t motivate you, you are certainly in the wrong industry at the wrong time.

Analysts at DNV estimate that wind power capacity will be six times greater in 25 years than it was in 2023.

If there is anything that can define a megatrend, this is it.

But the wind industry face huge challenges. Short-term growth projections are way down. The financial struggles are huge. Companies are cutting their losses.

This is not a time to drop everything and run, like BP has done.

This is a time for courageous leaders who can find a profitable way forward to a goal that is a lot bigger than increasing BP’s share price.

Recharge’s role in all this? We must keep making sense of everything that happens.

In a world with an increasing amount of misinformation and fake news around renewables, it is our role to provide clear, accurate and insightful reporting for our readers.

As the new publisher and editor in chief, it’s my responsibility to help the editorial team improve our well-established coverage even further, and reach even more readers in and around the industry.

It’s every editorial publication’s responsibility to hold power to account.

It’s our job to tell our readers what you really need to know and understand.
Recharge has provided insight for a long time. That will continue. We will not simply flood our front page and newsletters with press releases.
The need to follow ‘the business of wind’ more closely is also a reason to delve deeper into the corporate power business. Andrew Lee will take charge of that from now, as our new corporate power editor.

Over the coming months we will start to explore those power markets in greater detail than before. These markets are essential to a huge amount of wind power producers, but also to data centre operators and other major electricity users.

Our focus at Recharge will be on the biggest news stories and the most troubling issues – be it political attacks against wind energy, global trade tensions or clashes over ‘wind theft’ – and the people who offer solutions.
Recharge has a fantastic standing in the industry. Wind is growing fast, and we must grow with it. The business of wind is the core. Without a functioning market and brave leaders, there will be no electrification on a scale that the world needs. And the wind industry will not be six times larger in 2050 than today.
Do you have any suggestions for me or the team? Drop me a note on ole.petter@rechargenews.com or connect with me on LinkedIn.
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Published 2 June 2025, 08:05Updated 2 June 2025, 12:51
PolicywindIberdrolaBPStatkraft