Business Network for Offshore Wind CEO on the rise of women in energy "People will hear us now"

In January, when Vice President Kamala Harris became the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, it stood as a testament to how far women have come--and how much further they have yet to go. Since then, a host of diverse and talented women have been appointed to critical leadership roles across sectors, most notably in the energy space.

Former Govs. Jennifer Granholm, the new Secretary of Energy, and Gina Raimondo, the new Secretary of Commerce, as well as newly appointed White House Senior Advisor on Climate Policy Gina McCarthy and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Amanda Lefton, all have proven track records of championing clean energy and now lead federal agencies that have broad powers directly impacting the development of the growing U.S. offshore wind industry.

Most recently, U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland was confirmed as Secretary of the Interior, making history as the first Native American to serve in the Cabinet.

“Her appointment, and all of the women who are now serving in clean energy--it’s remarkable,” Liz Burdock, CEO of the Business Network for Offshore Wind (BNOW), told NPM. “Before Kelly Speakes-Backman went into DOE, she was heading up ESA, Abby Hopper was over at SEIA, and Heather Zichal came in at American Clean Power, and there’s me. These are all women heading up some of the major clean energy sectors from an association standpoint. This is amazing, and we are all friends. And then Biden gets elected, and he starts nominating all these other fabulous women into positions, so it’s really an exciting time.”

As a former Congresswoman, Haaland, who is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and a 35th generation New Mexican, focused her efforts on environmental justice, climate change, missing and murdered indigenous women, and family-friendly policies.

Haaland grew up in a military family--her father was a 30-year combat Marine who was awarded the Silver Star Medal for saving six lives in Vietnam, while her mother is a Navy veteran who served as a federal employee for 25 years at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. After running for New Mexico Lt. Governor in 2014, Haaland became the first Native American woman to be elected to lead a state party.

“I think her appointment is extremely special given her Native American background,” Burdock said. “I think what she can bring, which I think women bring in general, is a real collaborative process and listening to people and all the stakeholders. I do not mean to be gender-biased, but I really do believe that women listen better. We hear all the different sides of an issue and then can bring people together in consensus. I think that's what she’ll be able to do in offshore wind."

Controversial issues around offshore wind, like fishing and viewsheds, makes a collaborative approach even more critical, says Burdock.

"I think that she will be able to bring the stakeholders together," she said. "We all know that she comes from a background and upbringing that respects land and resources, and how to use those resources in a way that sustains them for future generations, so I believe that she will bring a real balanced approach to the development of offshore wind.”

Women represent 32 percent of the renewable energy workforce, according to a 2019 IRENA report. While this compares favorably to more conventional energy sectors like oil and gas, significant imbalances remain, both in highly developed markets and in communities where renewables are only now extending energy access.

"Utilities have had such a long history of being male dominated, and of course the oil and gas sector specifically has been very male dominated,” Burdock said. “I think that it shows that there is a place for women in energy, but energy of the future, innovative energy. It should show younger women that there are opportunities for them in this sector to grow and to flourish. I think that is the biggest and best message we can send to young women, and not just women but other diversity. There’s the opportunity for clean energy to be more diverse than the traditional energy sectors of the past.”

BOEM imperatives

As the new head of BOEM, Lefton has her work cut out for her. With Biden’s call last week for the federal agency to open new lease areas and radically speed up the offshore wind permitting process, Business Network says it is counting on the fast-tracking of large-scale commercial wind projects.

“What we hope to see is exactly what she’s working on,” Burdock said. “It’s so nice to have someone sitting in the director’s seat that is passionate about offshore wind and creating jobs, not just in the Northeast but across the country. She has focused on helping the oil and gas industry transition over to offshore wind as well. What we are seeing and are thankful for are new lease areas.”

The opening up of a priority lease area in the New York Bight is expected to support up to 25,000 development and construction jobs between now and 2030, as well as an additional 7,000 jobs in communities supported by this development. Business Network expects additional call areas to be worked through the stakeholder process to foster more competitive offshore wind development.

The organization also wants BOEM to ramp up its involvement in the U.S. supply chain, accelerate review processes for Construction and Operations Plans (COPs), and slash permitting timelines by 50 percent or more.

"Right now, it takes eight years to get a project from siting to the finish line," Burdock said. "In a way that has been challenging, but in so many ways we benefited from it taking a long time. We benefited from the lessons in Europe, so we are able to have cost reductions that we would not have seen if we would have had this 15 years ago. I think the greater lesson is because it has taken so long, we can do a lot of things right, specifically around diversity and equity and inclusion, that we probably would not have done four years ago. So there really is a silver lining to the fact that this industry is just taking off right now.”

Closer to home

Burdock herself is a prime example of setting the high bar for women in energy. Prior to joining Business Network, she managed Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing, a White House initiative, and the Chesapeake Crescent, a regional program aimed at growing a green economy in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Burdock's career has focused primarily on convening and coordinating diverse stakeholders, including businesses, government agencies and policymakers, to help drive the U.S. clean energy sector.

“I have faced challenges related to just trying to help get a nascent industry up and running, so those are challenges that I feel at some point in my career have been absolutely overwhelming,” Burdock said. “I didn't know sometimes how to keep my energy level up to keep pushing a boulder up a hill, which is what it felt like to help start the offshore wind industry in the U.S. I think that the situation is unique because it is a brand-new industry in the U.S. When I got started, there were not a lot of people who knew a lot about offshore wind.”

But that did not deter Burdock, who set to work educating herself, traveling to Europe to engage with offshore wind experts, talking to stakeholders, and learning everything she could about the industry.

“I don’t think I faced some of the challenges as a woman that I maybe would have faced in the oil and gas or utility industry because there was limited expertise and no history in the U.S.,” she said. “I think things were a little easier for me as a woman in this position. However, I will say that there were times that it was frustrating. I would see my male colleague say something that I had just said, and people would agree with him and not with me. That always happens, and I think one of the most frustrating things women face is that sometimes people do not hear us. But I do think that the appointments and number of women in leadership roles--I think that people will hear us more clearly now.”

A path forward

Events of the past year have laid bare some of the equity crises the U.S. continues to grapple with around diversity, wealth, environmental justice, and public health. The COVID-19 pandemic has tested the will of the nation, resulting in more than half a million deaths, millions more sick and hospitalized, massive job and business losses, and the emergence of the stark health and economic disparities between white communities versus communities of color.

The rise of white nationalism, the public killing of George Floyd on a Minneapolis street, and a summer of racial unrest have forced the issues of inclusion and equity into conversations across diverse sectors, demographics and geographies. Burdock believes that these events have informed the offshore wind sector, offering a wakeup call for stakeholders across the broader clean energy space.

“I think it has made us realize that we have an opportunity for the offshore wind sector to create a whole new American industry that can be more reflective of America in that it can have a more diverse workforce,” she said. “We have very few infrastructure assets and vessels, and we’ll need more for the first 10 GW. We can build all these things to be more environmentally friendly, meaning lower emissions, so that we can have ports and vessels around neighborhoods. We can address environmental justice in that way. I think the events of the last year have made us all look at how we can be more diverse and inclusive in our workforce as we are developing the talent pipeline."