5th Annual Submarine Power Cable and Interconnection Forum

Etienne Rochat received a master degree of engineering from the Swiss Institute of Technology (EPFL, Lausanne) and a PhD in science from the University of Neuchâtel. Prior to working for OMNISENS, Etienne worked as research scientist at ABB Corporate Research Centre (Switzerland), developing fibre sensors for remote pressure and temperature measurement in oil reservoir, then as research fellow at the University of Essex (UK) in non-conventional optical communication.

Etienne Rochat joined OMNISENS in 2004 and worked originally as product manager for the company former trace gas analyser. In 2009, he became R&D manager for fibre optic distributed sensing, then head of engineering in 2010 and CTO in 2013. As such, he is in charge of product research & development for the company monitoring solution, focusing on optical interrogators, sensing cables and novel applications. The corresponding products are now deployed worldwide for pipeline monitoring (leak, intrusion, geotechnology) and power cable monitoring (load optimisation, fault finding).

Etienne Rochat is the author of more than 50 papers and 10 patent families.

Victoria Phillips is Associate Director of RPS’ Explosives Engineering Services; Victoria has been working in the UXO Industry for 15 years and currently manages all of RPS’ survey and marine related UXO Consultancy and operations. She has extensive experience of managing and mitigating UXO risk in various areas of the globe and is a UXO Subject Matter Expert to a number of large energy concerns including BP and ExxonMobil.

Jakub is active in Service Product Management at NKT. In his role, Jakub is responsible for the product portfolio of NKT's Service Business Line covering both the offshore and onshore power cable segments. His primary focus is leveraging NKT's extensive HV cable experience to identify solutions for cable owners' and cable operators' needs as well as leading implementation teams to develop these solutions into products. Prior to transitioning to the Service Business Line, Jakub was a member of NKT's in-house Strategy Department where he supported numerous projects across the company's Business Lines, most notably shaping the Service Business Line's strategy. Before joining NKT, Jakub worked as a Management Consultant in Bain & Company's Brussels office and obtained a Master of Science degree in Energy Engineering from the KU Leuven and Grenoble INP.

Michael Brooks is Senior Executive at 4COffshore, London:
With 35 years diverse experience, he brings a deep understanding of the engineering complexities needed to achieve successful delivery of subsea pipeline and cable infrastructure installation: he is a leading advocate of the importance of subsea cable asset risk mitigation objectives to secure long term operational performance to effect balance sheet protection / investor confidence: this is a key thrust of 4C's mandate. In addition to the position at 4C, other key roles include;
CEO Risk Panel Limited (London)
Senior Vice President Oceanteam Shipping (Oslo)
Director Oceanroutes Mobell  (Swire Group, London)

Chas is Operations Director at Peritus International, a specialist subsea engineering consultancy. He has experience with a wide range of subsea cable projects covering both offshore wind and oil and gas. He is also experienced in subsea pipeline design, having been involved in the design of some of the world’s deepest pipelines at over 3000m.  He holds a Ph.D in Materials Science and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering. He is a Fellow of the institute of Marine Engineers.

Daniele is a Project Management professional and subsea cable specialist with 15 years of experience in the marine and offshore field ranging from marine operations, shipbuilding, and offshore installation of HV submarine cables.

In recent years he has specialised in subsea cable installation, being involved in several offshore installation campaigns on board Cable Lay vessels across Europe.

Among other projects, Daniele was involved in the method statement development and installation of the Cobra cable Interconnector, the North Sea Link cable project, the CWA project, and the Western link cable repair operations.

Daniele is currently a Subsea Cable Project Manager at OWC (an Aqualis Braemar Company) and he has been recently involved in feasibility studies and route engineering optimisation for several Round 4 offshore wind projects and Submarine Cable Package Management for floating offshore wind projects in the UK.

Daniele is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and Member of RINA (AMRINA).

A Chartered Marine Engineer with LOC London, Mike is a qualified Chief Engineer who has been working in the renewable sector at LOC for over thirteen years. His experience at LOC includes MWS and consultancy for high voltage export and array cables, HVDC Interconnector cable installation and repair, wind turbine and foundation installation, investigations of subsea cable damage. He is also active as MWS for cable replacement and repair campaigns on several OWF. He has also conducted equipment failure investigations for P&I and H&M interests on a variety failures such as main and auxiliary engines, steering systems and deck machinery, fire damage and vessel repair and has produced expert reports and acted as expert witness for arbitration. He is a qualified ISM/ISO 9000 lead auditor and has completed an MSc in Engineering and Management based around the ISM Code and safety management. He has advised and worked on numerous Offshore Windfarm cable installations and cable repairs as MWS and as a consultant, and has also conducted due diligence for the marine aspects for OFTO bids for transmission assets.

Andrew Norris ACII, BSc (Hons), CEng, FIMechE

Director of Lloyd Warwick International (London). Areas of expertise include renewable energy (particularly offshore wind and submarine power cables).

Andrew is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Insurer with over 20 years’ experience in loss adjusting, underwriting, claims management and risk surveying. A founder and former chairman of the European Wind Turbine Committee, he also chaired the Oil, Petrochemical and Energy Risks Association (OPERA) and is a member of the Offshore Engineering Society. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute and holds an Advanced Diploma in Insurance.

In his early career, Andrew worked in the mining industry, but in a subsequent career move, gained a commission in the Royal Navy, serving as an engineering officer at sea and ashore.

On completion of his naval career, Andrew entered the insurance industry and subsequently moved to London in 2000, to work as an international energy loss adjuster. In 2007, he joined a Lloyd’s syndicate, as their senior risk engineer and claims adjuster.

Building on this, he took up a position as a senior engineering underwriter with one of the world’s largest reinsurance companies where he quickly established a reputation as one of the market’s leading underwriters of offshore wind and submarine cable risks.

In this capacity, his portfolio included the first commercial scale array of floating turbines, the first offshore deployment of 8MW+ turbines and the introduction of the first 66kV cable array. He was involved in all early Taiwanese offshore wind projects and in China, helped introduce marine warranty clauses as a pre-requisite for project insurance. In Japan, he insured the Fukushima III floating turbine and insured cable interconnector projects in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.

Andrew is a regular speaker at conferences and has contributed to many market initiatives including:

• Offshore Engineering Society - Offshore wind and natural catastrophe risk: an insurance perspective, July 2020.
• The International Machinery Insurers Association paper on battery energy storage systems, published 2019.
• The Society of Construction Law – presentation on offshore wind, London, 2019.
• Speaker at the 5th Annual Offshore Power Cable Engineering and Reliability conference, Amsterdam, 2019.
• Expert view: the future of renewable energy – Strategic Risk publication, 2018.
• Renewable energy investment – Strategic Risk publication, 2018.
• Innovation and Challenges in Offshore Wind, WTW China Renewable Energy Conference 2018, Hangzhou, China.
• Seeking Sustainability – creative risk management and insurance solutions, FERMA 2017, Monaco.

Allan has worked at Societe Generale for eight years and has been involved in the power sector for more than 30 years, initially as an engineer and then in finance. During his career he has advised on and/or financed power projects in Europe, MENA, the US and Asia, and in sectors ranging from green-field renewable energy, through gas and coal, to the acquisition of large international power portfolios.  

Allan has extensive experience in the clean energy sector, including recently taking a leading role in the offshore wind sector. Most recently he has acted as Financial Advisor to a floating wind project, Dudgeon (400MW) and London Array (630MW) in the UK and the successful Borssele III&IV bid (700MW) in the Netherlands. He also advised an Asian client on the successful acquisition of an equity stake in a 900MW offshore wind development in Europe. In addition to his advisory assignments, Allan has been involved in arranging debt for several EUR1bn+ offshore wind projects in Europe.

In the wider clean energy sector, Allan has also played a leading role in carbon capture & storage field having advised on White Rose, Teesside Industrial CCS and Donn Valley projects in the UK, as well as serving on the UK Government’s original CCS Forum and leading the commercial section of the CCS Cost Reduction Task Force.

Allan has a BSc (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering, an MBA, is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a Chartered Engineer.

TBA

A Chartered Marine Technologist, Joe has 15 years of experience in offshore power generation and transmission, initially in project development and more recently in risk finance consulting. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology, and is on his final module for the Diploma in Insurance. Joe joined Renewable Risk from Lloyd Warwick in early 2021 where he was a senior loss adjuster in their renewable energy team. Prior this this he originated and led investment into fixed and floating tidal power projects on both sides of the Atlantic, with International Power (now ENGIE) and then Bluewater Energy Services. His first career included 9 years of seagoing experience from Deck Rating to Officer of the Watch under both power and sail.

 Stelios is a Principal Electrical Engineering Consultant with a background in condition monitoring. He obtained his BEng degree in Electrical Engineering with First Class Honours, and his subsequent PhD, from the University of Southampton. He has published several papers for international electrical power conferences. His PhD project focused on the condition monitoring and prognostics of underground cable systems including cable joints and terminations and aimed to develop a reliable thermal online condition monitoring prognostic indicator tool for MV cables that can be used to predict and prevent upcoming failures in distribution cable circuits. After completing his PhD in 2016, Stelios joined Ricardo Energy and Environment as a Consultant where he provided support for customer projects and bids, with a technical focus in projects involving digitisation, data research, development and analysis. In 2017 Stelios joined RINA’s asset integrity group. Since joining RINA, Stelios has undertaken work in the field of electrical testing, condition assessment and forensic analysis of high voltage assets including cables, transformers, switchgear, and motors. Recent projects include development of remaining useful life algorithms and prediction of cable failures in HV cable systems.

Rene started his career in 1981 within the dredging division of HAM Dredging. After having spent several years on dredging projects worldwide, he joined the offshore division of the company. At that time the main offshore activities were the preparation of the rights-of-way, consisting mainly of the pre-sweeping, along the pipeline and cable routes.

In 1992, Rene joined Van Oord, one of the major dredging and marine contractors worldwide. Within the Offshore division Rene became responsible for all cable related activities which initially consisted of subsea rock installation for protection purposes and later evolved into the cable installation and burial services towards the telecom and later on the offshore wind industry. In his role, Rene has been responsible for the development of the cable installation and burial activities and several EPC contracts for offshore wind farms and thereby being instrumental in the present position of Van Oord in the cable installation markets.

In 2020, after almost 40 years in the dredging and offshore (wind) industry, Rene has left Van Oord and started his own consultancy (CableAbility) with the aim to use his extensive experience and knowledge within the submarine cable industries

Mariangela Sfouni-Grigoriadou is a senior engineer with over 10 years in the offshore industry with solid academic background in a broad range of engineering majors. She has worked in several offshore projects with focus on seabed mobility, protection and scour assessments and geohazards. Mariangela was the lead project engineer of the Crete-Peloponnese interconnection which is the longest and deepest AC interconnection in the world. Experienced in planning and management of offshore marine surveys, cable installation and protection campaigns on board CLV, geotechnical and geophysical data interpretation and cable protection systems selection. Mariangela’s PhD research focused on the numerical modelling and experimental characterization of slide-induced submarine density flows and their effects on subsea infrastructure cables and pipelines. She was awarded the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship in 2014

Robert is the project manager for the Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) High Voltage Array Systems project, which is a project seeking industry consensus on the next standard array voltage >66kV.  Robert has over a decade of professional experience in innovation, having a background in project management, policy and engineering IP law.  At the Carbon Trust, he is committed to the set-up and management of large-scale joint-industry projects in the Offshore Wind Accelerator.  Robert holds an MSci and BA in Natural Sciences (Physics) from the University of Cambridge.

Peter van der Wielen is Business Director Power Failure Investigations at the advisory and certification firm DNV and stationed in the Netherlands. He is responsible for the business of Power Failure Investigations in which customers are provided with a clear, unbiased understanding of the root cause of a failure, non-conformity or black-out of power systems. He is also part-time Professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology on the research topic “Reliability of Grid Components”, where he initiates, coordinates and performs research and teaches students on subjects related to grid component reliability and power cables in particular. He has an MSc (2000) and PhD (2005) degree in electrical power systems. His personal technical expertise is focused on: (underground and submarine) power cables, failure analysis in general, degradation and failure mechanisms of power components and systems, testing & diagnostics, remaining life estimations, health indexing, maintenance methodologies and asset management. Furthermore, he lectures various DNV training courses on these subjects, is (co)author of over 90 scientific publications and is active in various (inter)national committees.

Simon is passionate about the environment.

For the past 17 years his main focus has been building up Ground Control Ltd to be a highly respected, multi-award winning environmental services business looking after over 60,000 sites in the UK and for which he received the UK’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year award for Transformational leadership in 2018. He has also focused significant energy on other environmental initiatives.

He has built over 100 wind turbines through Solar Ventus that he founded in 2010 which currently supplies renewable electricity to over 2,600 households in the UK. He is the founder of Future Motors which aims to supply 20%+ more efficient electric motors to businesses in the UK and he has founded XLinks in 2019 to power 3.6GW of electricity to the UK from an HVDC sub-sea cable link from solar panels in the Moroccan desert – approx. 8% of UK electricity needs. Simon also founded Skyports and Levitate Capital to accelerate the world’s trajectory to sustainable aerial mobility.

Simon is an ex-McKinsey consultant and Morgan Stanley Derivatives analyst. He holds a Master’s degree with Distinction in Economics, Engineering and Management from Oxford University and an MBA degree with Honours from Harvard Business School. He lives with his wife and four children in Billericay, Essex

Pierre is currently Of Counsel with the Brussels based international law firm Philippe & Partners, where he develops the energy practice. He is also managing partner of BEA, a Brussels based boutique consulting firm that specializes in energy policy and strategic business advice relating exclusively to the electricity sector. which he founded in 2010. In addition, Pierre runs FoSG/Friends of Sustainable Grids (formerly Friends of the Supergrid), a Brussels-based international non-profit that focuses on the close cooperation between sustainable grids and all grid users, with strong focus on electricity interconnections, offshore grids, RES and flexibility. He has a significant international energy experience (Europe, USA, GCC countries), especially in the field of energy regulation, transmission grids, interconnectors and renewables (including flexibility services) advising developers, grid operators, investors, large consumers, etc., and has worked in several countries. Pierre has been and still is involved in numerous electricity interconnector projects where he advises as well TSOs, project developers and investors on various legal, regulatory and strategic aspects related to interconnectors. Pierre is Global Ambassador for EEI/Edison Electric Institute, based in Washington, DC. EEI is the largest US based energy utilities trade association. Pierre is one of the select members of the European Commission’s (EC) Implementation Working Group (IWG) on HVDC of the SET Plan and a member of the EC’s Expert Group on interconnectors. Prior to joining Philippe & Partners and creating BEA, Pierre headed the business development activities of the ELIA Group (the Belgian electricity transmission operator), where he was also General Counsel and Secretary General. As ELIA’s Director Business Development, he namely initiated, structured and negotiated the acquisition of the German grid 50Hertz, worked on submarine power cable projects in the US and in Europe. When at ELIA, he was part of the team that initiated the NEMO Link cable (Belgium-UK). He went to law school in Brussels (Belgium) and Ottawa (Canada) and practiced with prominent law firms in Canada before going in-house and focusing more on the business aspects of his clients. He also followed management executive education at Harvard (US) and Cambridge (UK). In 2016, he edited and co-authored “EU Electricity Laws”, a 4-volume compendium of the European 2 energy legislation. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences focusing on energy issues, including energy law

Richard Booth is an experienced construction lawyer with a particular interest and specialism in renewables, including offshore wind.  He regularly advises on procurement strategy and all forms of construction documentation, particularly high value complex EPC contracts. Richard regularly acts in an advisory capacity on offshore wind projects and is an experienced strategist and dispute resolver. The directories say "he is a very persuasive negotiator", "excellent at tackling the issues while bearing in mind practical and commercially sensible solutions" and "his strengths are his ability to find solutions in negotiations and to get a deal done.

Matt Coyne leads the UK Government’s work on interconnection. He has over 15 years’ experience working across a range of energy and climate change issues in central Government, including on Electricity Market Reform, Energy Intensive Industry policies, and the EU Emissions Trading System.

Experience

Bekaert

• R&I manager Corrosion and metallic coatings

Oct 2019 – Present

Responsible for a (11 member) team analyzing, researching and innovating in corrosion and metallic coatings.

• R&D Lab manager electrochemical & corrosion lab

2012 - Oct 2019

Labmanager of a small team (6 members) combined with leading R&D projects related to corrosion.

• R&D Lab manager Chemical lab

2008 – 2012 

Labmanager of an (15 member) R&D lab related to analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, electrochemistry and corrosion.

UGent

• PhD researcher. Doctor of Science, Chemistry

2003 - 2008

‘Development and Exploration of Schiff base Ruthenium Carbene Catalysts for Olefin Metathesis’

• Master in Science, Chemistry

1997-2002

Chris Almond – Business Development and Commercial Manager – PanGeo Subsea

Chris has been working in the subsea survey industry for 13 years during which he has supported site investigation and asset integrity surveys globally ranging from deep water site developments to offshore windfarm and submarine cable surveys. Prior to moving onshore in a commercial role, he was a Senior Geophysicist working on data collection and interpretation primarily for foundation locations and cable route surveys. At PanGeo Subsea he oversees the use of the companies 3D acoustic survey technology for a range of requirements including buried boulder identification, UXO reduction and cable depth of burial surveys.

Øyvind Iversen is graduated from University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1996 and since 97 worked at Nexans and participated in qualification of dynamic cable as well as qualification of insulation systems and its materials for specific applications as for dynamic cables. The experience from field service of such cables are fundamental for the designs of cables now being considered for the offshore wind industry.

Rob Gray is a partner in the Infrastructure & Project Finance Group at CMS with over 22 years of experience of advising on infrastructure projects all over the world. The breadth of Rob’s experience in advising sponsors, lenders, contractors and procuring authorities on projects in the transport, health, education, defence and renewable energy sectors means he provides pragmatic and practical solutions to all issues.

 Rob’s recent experience includes advising on the NeuConnect Interconnector project, the  D4 PPP road project in the Czech Republic, a bidder for the Silvertown Tunnel project in the UK and Bidding Consortia on the E18 highway PPP project in Finland and the D4/R7 highway PPP project in Slovakia

Patrick Breinessl is a Product Manager for Fiber in Metal Tubes and Fiber Optic. Cables at NBG, located at the NBG headquarters in Austria. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Business and has experience in quality, project, and operations management in industrial and automotive productions. Strong business acumen with a focus on customer satisfaction complements his indepth technical knowledge of fiber optics and manufacturing processes

John is the North Sea Stakeholder Manager in National Grid Ventures. With over 30 years’ experience in the electricity sector John has played a role in many of the initiatives that have liberalised the wholesale electricity market in GB. Most recently John has worked in NGV’s Interconnector business responsible for developing the commercial and regulatory frameworks for interconnectors and the next phase of infrastructure in the North Sea to help deliver net-zero. John is chair of the GB Interconnectors’ Forum

Andy Readyhough / UK Brand Ambassador / Marlinks

Master Mariner with over 33 year’s maritime experience from a variety of offshore industries. Past 20 years engaged in submarine cable installation, trenching and maintenance in both operations and management initially in roles offshore culminating in Captain or Offshore Manager of cable vessels before transferring to shore-based roles within Operations and Business Development Management. Joined Marlinks in February 2020 to enthusiastically support and promote the company submarine cable asset integrity service lines within the offshore energy sector

Professor Justin Dix is a marine geologist and geophysicist with over thirty years’ experience in data acquisition, processing and interpretation. He has spent much of his career in the School of Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton, working on a wide range of applied marine research projects covering: 3 and 4D Quaternary geological and geophysical modelling; structure-sea bed interactions (e.g. foundation, cables, pipelines and other structures) from both a geological and perspective; both marine landscape and wreck based archaeological investigations; and, over the last eight years, focusing on the environmental controls on HV cable design, operation and decommissioning. This work has been supported by both industry, and UK and overseas government funding. Throughout this period, he has utilised this knowledge for working on live civil engineering projects including multiple major offshore windfarms; two nuclear power stations; and multiple HV and telecommunication cable routes. Justin now splits his time between MarineSpace and the University of Southampton, to both deliver high quality industrial consultancy whilst continuing an active role in research and education

John has been an Engineer within the Subsea, ROV industry for over 30 years. Initially working with the UK and overseas navies on remote control mine countermeasure ROVs and then for the past 20 years on the ROVs, Ploughs and trenchers used to support offshore oil and gas, submarine telecom and power cable installation. John has had a diverse career from working offshore, through to operations management, business development and now as director of trenching and business development for Helix Robotics Solutions. As Director Trenching & Business Development, John is responsible for working with the senior management team to support the business’s strategy in taking its assets and services; supporting all things energy. John is responsible for building relationships with current clients and strategic partners primarily in the North Sea and EMEA region - although his remit, just like the company’s equipment and services - extends worldwide. John’s expertise in the renewables sector and the trenching market merges with the core strength of Helix Robotics Solutions, which is providing services (ROV, Trenching, UXO ID, boulder clearance, construction support and vessels) in shallow to deep water marine contracting operations, and allows him to advise global energy, renewables and telecom players on the most cost-effective solution for their project needs

Dr. George Loizos, PhD ('03), two M.Sc. ('95 & '98) and a B.Eng ('94) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering is the Head of Electricity Networks and New Technologies Unit in the Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy. With over than 20 years active presence in industry, academia, public sector, he is an experienced electricity systems regulator and energy researcher with skills in analysis, problem solving, administration, energy market, electricity networks regulation and energy efficiency. He is an expert of the European Commission and has participated in various technical assistance programs (Twinning/TAIEX) to neighboring countries of the European Union. He is married and has two daughters.

Since joining RINA (formerly ERA Technology) in 2010, Ben has undertaken work in the fields of electrical testing and design, condition assessment and forensic engineering. His projects have included calculation of cable ratings, high voltage electrical testing, condition assessment and failure investigation of electrical assets. A large number of Ben’s projects have focussed on cable systems, including subsea interconnectors and wind farm export and inter-array cables

Axel Barnekow Widmark / Executive Vice President Service & Installation / NKT

Axel is leading the Service & Installation Business Line of NKT – the unit responsible for all of NKT’s cable jointers deployed on service or installation projects as well as for all other cable services provided by NKT both on- and off-shore. In his role, one of Axel’s primary objectives is ensuring that NKT continues to provide world-leading services for submarine cables owned and operated by its customers in this rapidly changing and growing industry. Prior to joining NKT in 2020, he has been a Management Consultant at McKinsey & Company and held various leadership positions at ABB. Axel holds a Master of Science degree in Engineering Physics from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Jonathan is an experienced Energy Advisory leader within Arup’s UK Advisory Services Midlands team. Jonathan has significant experience managing complex, multidisciplinary energy projects, in particular working on interconnector projects for over 8 years.

The breadth of Jonathan’s experience includes working for developers, investors and regulatory bodies across Europe and globally.

Jonathan’s recent experience includes leading the procurement exercise for NeuConnect interconnector project and subsequently transitioning into his current role of Employer’s Representative across all contracts, leading the joint venture organisation on behalf of the client.

Additionally, Jonathan leads Arup’s Interconnector forum, drawing together global experts in HVDC projects, with experience throughout project lifecycles, to deliver excellence for our clients.