Harnessing the Power of Oregon’s Offshore Wind

Kevin Banister is the Simply Blue Group's Chief Development Officer and President of ​Deep Blue Pacific Wind. For almost 10 years, he worked for Principle Power, serving as Vice President, Head of Development. In this position, he led the company’s business and project development activities around the world, which included work with utilities, developers, government officials, stakeholders and policy makers, ultimately leading to a multi-GW pipeline of offshore wind projects, including three U.S. floating wind projects.

Based on the U.S. West Coast, he has 20 years in renewable energy with experience in policy, project development, and contract negotiation and planning. He has been a governor appointee to develop state and federal level renewable energy policy mechanisms and has developed projects ranging from electric vehicle charging, to solar power, wave energy and offshore wind. He is the Board Chair for the Pacific Ocean Energy Trust (POET), a Board Director for the World Ocean Council, and is a founding member of Offshore Wind California. Kevin is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara and holds an MSc in Economic Development from the London School of Economics.

Peter Cogswell joins Simply Blue with more than 20 years advancing energy and natural resource policies in the Pacific Northwest. He started his energy career with PacifiCorp in 2000, eventually being named State Policy Manager. He joined the staff of Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski in 2004, first as Deputy Chief of Staff and then as Senior Policy Advisor on Energy and Telecommunications, during which he was integral to enacting the state’s first renewable energy standard in 2007.

He then joined the Regional Relations group at the Bonneville Power Administration, which markets power from the Federal Columbia River Power System. He was named Manager of Regional Relations in 2010, served as the Agency’s Acting Chief Public Affairs Officer from 2013-2015 and was named Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in 2015. In that role he was responsible for the agency’s relationships with states, tribes, federal elected officials, local governments and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. He lives in Portland with his wife and three daughters and is an avid fly fisherman, reader and football fan, among many other interests.

Alana Duerr is Director of U.S. Projects for Deep Blue Pacific Wind, responsible for the development and implementation of market-specific strategies to deploy innovative and cost-effective floating offshore wind projects in the United States. Alana has been part of the offshore wind industry in the U.S. since 2013, with experience in both the public and private sectors. In her previous roles, she served as the Offshore Wind Lead for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office, where she led the offshore wind R&D portfolio, including the Advanced Technology Demonstration Projects, the National Offshore Wind R&D Consortium with NYSERDA, and was a leader in the development and implementation of the 2016 National Offshore Wind Strategy.

She most recently was the Director for the North American Offshore Wind team at DNV, helping customers navigate and find solutions over the development lifecycle of offshore wind projects from feasibility to decommissioning. Alana has a Ph.D. in ocean engineering, and a B.S. in naval architecture and marine engineering.

Lauren Spence, Offshore Wind Business Developer for TotalEnergies, has 15+ years of experience in the upstream oil and gas sector. In addition to leading commercial asset management and M&A activities, Ms. Spence has extensive hands-on experience in liaising with key stakeholders from land and mineral owners to federal government agencies (including BOEM, BSEE and BLM).

Ms. Spence joined TotalEnergies renewables team in 2021 to facilitate growth of the offshore wind portfolio and partnerships. She is the Deputy President of the joint venture between TotalEnergies and Simply Blue Energy. An attorney admitted to the Texas Bar, Spence has her Juris Doctorate from the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas.

With over 13 years of dedicated technical support to project lifecycle entailing engineering, procurement, construction, installation and operations, Ricardo brings his experience in delivering various fit-for-purpose offshore floating/fixed assets across the globe.

He’s also served as a mooring delivery manager for Tendon Leg Platform projects within West Africa and South-East Asia, and devoted time for Supply Chain development.

Most recently, he has gained extensive experience in the development of one of the first offshore wind farms located on the east coast of the United States. As the Floating and Supply Chain Lead for Offshore Wind U.S., TotalEnergies Renewables, he brings his extensive technical knowledge for offshore wind farm development, as well as a proven track record in supply chain management, to the team.

Ricardo holds a MSc in Materials Engineering and a MSc degree in Welding Engineering.

Karolina Pietrzak is the Deputy Chief Development Officer for the Simply Blue Group ​and serves as a Senior Advisor to Deep Blue Pacific Wind. She has almost 10 years of experience in offshore wind farm development in different roles for utilities as well as consultants working on the German, U.S. and Polish markets. She was responsible for portfolio development on the East and West Coasts of the U.S. She has extensive market insight, networks and experience in defining market-entry strategies and partnerships, including all aspects of early-stage project development. She has experience leading multi-functional teams during offshore wind auctions preparation. She led federal auction preparation for the last auction in Massachusetts in 2018 for a developer, and worked on the first “zero subsidy” offshore wind auction in Germany.

Recently, she worked with a major U.S. utility on its 2.6 GW offshore wind project, focusing on technical concept development, construction and operation plan preparation, as well as FDR/FIR strategy. She has a power engineering degree from the Warsaw University of Technology, and speaks fluent English, German and Polish.

Katie Morrice is the Environmental and Permitting Lead for Deep Blue Pacific Wind. Born and raised in Oregon, and with deep family ties to the area, she is excited to help the Pacific Northwest advance renewable energy goals with an eye towards engaging coastal communities and understanding impacts to the environment, cultural resources, and existing ocean uses. She has more than a decade of experience working across environmental science and policy, coastal oceanography, fisheries, and marine renewable energy and has worked for both state and federal agencies. Her experience includes working onboard commercial fishing vessels in the Bering Sea as a fisheries observer, supporting adaptive management programs focused on water supply reliability and ecosystem health in the Sacramento San-Joaquin Delta, and modelling coastal hydrodynamics and juvenile salmon migration in the Columbia River estuary.

Immediately prior to joining Deep Blue Pacific Wind, Katie worked as a marine scientist for the Water Power Technologies Office at the U.S. Department of Energy. She supported marine renewable energy R&D for non-grid scale blue economy applications and energy resilience for remote coastal communities. In addition, she advanced WPTO’s engagement with Federal ocean policy groups, energy justice activities within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and environmental R&D across the marine energy and hydropower portfolios.

Katie has a Ph.D. in environmental science and engineering from Oregon Health & Science University, a M.S. in marine science from Moss Landing Marine Labs, and a B.A. in biology from Smith College.