By GREGORY ZELLER //
A former U.S. Department of Energy bigwig will temporarily lead an ambitious New York-based consortium focused on maximizing the nation’s promising offshore-wind industry.
The National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium, a nationally focused not-for-profit with a $41 million budget provided by the DOE and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, has named Kevin Knobloch as its acting executive director.
Knobloch, a former chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Energy now heading Massachusetts-based consulting and advisory firm Knobloch Energy, is slated to take the reins June 15. He succeeds Executive Director Carrie Cullen Hitt, the circa-2019 startup organization’s first-ever exec, who “left to pursue other opportunities,” according to the consortium.
Robert Catell: Big Knobloch fan.
Knobloch will lead the way while a national search for a permanent executive director develops. Although his “interim” reign figures to be brief, several heavy-hitting industry insiders hailed his ascension to the center seat as a major victory for the three-year-old consortium.
Former KeySpan and National Grid U.S. Chairman Robert Catell, the consortium’s chairman of the board, noted past collaborations with Knobloch and said he looks forward to working with him “to advance the offshore-wind industry.”
“I have seen firsthand his passion for clean energy,” noted Catell, who also chairs Stony Brook University’s Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center. “I know the consortium will benefit greatly from Kevin’s extensive experience.”
That experience includes three years as president of New York OceanGrid, a spinoff of Massachusetts-based power conglomerate Anbaric Development Partners focused on transmitting ocean-based energy, and a 10-year tenure as president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit science-advocacy group.
Knobloch also served a prior stint on the NOW Research and Development Consortium’s Board of Directors, making him intimately familiar with the consortium’s ongoing mission to promote and improve offshore-wind technologies and socioeconomics.
Kevin Knobloch: Momentum moment.
“Maintaining the consortium’s forward momentum is critical to sustaining the growth of this rapidly emerging source of clean energy for the [nation],” the interim exec said in a statement. “I am delighted to join the consortium during this transitional moment to work with the passionate board … to build on the exceptional foundation and achievement that [Hitt] has led during her tenure.”
Doreen Harris, president and CEO of NYSERDA, trumpeted Knobloch’s leadership as key to “fostering the needed public-private partnerships that ensure the long-term success of the growing offshore-wind industry.”
“We know that offshore wind has the potential to be a transformative resource in establishing our green economy and decarbonizing our grid,” Harris said.
Other nonprofit organizations on offshore-wind support missions also applauded the appointment. New York Offshore Wind Alliance Director Fred Zalcman thanked Hitt “for building the consortium into the effective and important research institution that it is today,” and said the consortium’s directors made a wise choice in her successor “at this critical juncture in the development of the U.S. offshore wind industry.”
“Kevin’s leadership experience with nonprofit organizations, government and the private sector will be instrumental in identifying and resolving through key barriers to industry growth,” Zalcman added.
