Henrik Stiesdal - On developing the modern wind turbine and offshore wind technology

Planet A - Talks on Climate Change

In this episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks to a true pioneer within the field of wind energy, the father of the modern Danish wind turbine and the world's first offshore wind farm, Henrik Stiesdal, former Chief Technology Officer of Siemens Wind Power.

Stiesdal shares his personal story, recounting how, as a young farmer boy during the 1973 oil crisis, he built his first wind turbine to harness affordable wind power for his family. He also tells the story of how the world's wind turbines have ended up rotating clockwise and how they built the first offshore wind farm in the world, Vindeby Offshore Wind Farm.

Aside from the fascinating stories from a whole life in the business he also describes the special conditions that made the Danish offshore wind adventure possible and explains key factors to the success – among others when Danish pensions funds started to invest in the wind farms before they were even built.

They also discuss the low cost and other merits of offshore wind, even when the wind doesn’t blow. As well as the future of offshore wind, which could potentially meet global electricity consumption needs tenfold.

Stiesdal finishes off with an insight into his latest projects – the floating offshore wind farm and the technology of pyrolysis, that he is now working on.

You can watch the TED-talk mentioned in the podcast, where Dan Jørgensen brought Stiesdal first small rotor to the international scene, here:

https://youtu.be/adJnm7Yopdo?si=PuM9oEd_RAgpgu5u