Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal is one of many Norwegian executives to have made the leap from shipping to renewables.
However, fewer have made the leap both ways.
"I came into shipping from renewable energy, and many other [shipping] colleagues had a background in energy," she told TradeWinds.
In 2010, aged 33, Ringstad Vartdal was headhunted from Torvald Klaveness to replace Geir Karlsen as chief financial officer at John Fredriksen's Golden Ocean. In 2016, she replaced Herman Billung as chief executive before moving on to run European wind and solar at state power company Statkraft last year.
But before shipping, she had worked in renewables at Norsk Hydro Energi.
The Alesund native also has a background in fishing as a member of the family behind Vartdal Seafood, in which she remains a shareholder.
She believes the transition from shipping to renewables or vice versa is not that difficult.
"The market dynamics are relatively similar, which helps," she said, citing similarities in investment decisions, financing and asset management.
"It is a different type of asset, but a lot of the same concepts. There are, of course, differences as well when you go a bit deeper into it, but overall the transition is possible."
Like others with a shipping background, Ringstad Vartdal wanted to be part of the energy transition, and found it appealing to plug her knowledge and network into a new sector.
Rewarding
One project she singled out in that regard is Statkraft's venture with fertiliser giant Yara and Kjell Inge Rokke's Aker to convert a Yara ammonia plant at Heroya in southern Norway to mass-produce green ammonia through electrolysis rather than gas.
"As this is one of the likely solutions for helping shipping to decarbonise, combining my past and current role in supporting this project is very rewarding," she said.
Another project that she did not mention is her company's expansion into offshore energy.
Statkraft, which has 22 onshore wind farms, dropped its offshore wind investments in 2015. But last year, Norway's parliament opened vast areas of the North Sea and Norwegian Sea to wind farming and, in January, Statkraft announced a joint venture with Aker Offshore Wind.
Offshore wind players — including Norway's Fred Olsen Windcarrier and Offshore Heavy Transport and Oslo-listed Cadeler — are watching Statkraft's next move.
