Seven women shaping wind power in 2026
To celebrate International Women’s Day, we’re turning the spotlight on seven women who are shaping the wind sector in 2026, from association chiefs to chief executives and those fighting to increase female representation in the industry.
Back in 2019, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and the International Renewable Energy Agency conducted a survey to analyse female representation in the global wind energy workforce. The results were depressing.
Women made up around 21% of that workforce and occupied just 8% of senior leadership positions, primarily in administration and non-STEM roles.
However, despite their measly representation in wind industry boardrooms, there are abundant examples of female industry heavyweights who have made and continue to make trailblazing contributions to the sector.
To mark International Women’s Day, which passed on Sunday, we’ve singled out seven of them.
Tinne Van der Straeten – WindEurope, CEO
Tinne Van der Straeten steered Belgian policy towards wind as energy minister for more than four years while sitting as a Green party member in the country’s federal parliament.
In that role, she oversaw one of Europe’s most ambitious offshore wind programmes and pioneered the introduction of Contracts for Difference-based support in the country.
She also hosted fellow European energy ministers when they gathered in the Belgian coastal city of Ostend in 2023 to pledge to work together to deliver 120GW of North Sea offshore wind by 2030 and a whopping 300GW by 2050.
Like many Belgians, Van der Straeten is a straight shooter – memorably delivering a sharp rebuke to Danish turbine maker Vestas at the WindEurope summit in 2024.
Fortunately, Vestas chief Henrik Andersen does not appear to have held that against her, as the WindEurope chair was instrumental in appointing her as the new CEO of the lobbying group late last year.
Van der Straeten started in the role in January and told Recharge last month why she is confident that European countries can walk the walk on their offshore wind pledges. She also discussed other challenges she will have to face in her new role, including growing tension in the European sector over the role of Chinese suppliers and attacks on wind from US President Donald Trump.
Lindsay McQuade – Amazon Web Services, Director of Energy, EMEA
Lindsay McQuade is a stalwart of the European wind and renewables sector, thanks in large part to her work at ScottishPower Renewables, the British subsidiary of Spain’s Iberdrola.
McQuade spent nearly two decades at the developer, rising up the ranks to become its CEO in 2018 – remaining in the position for almost five years. She was also a board member of RenewableUK during that period.
In 2022, she moved from leading one of the world’s top wind power generators to becoming the director of energy for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region at one of its biggest private buyers: Amazon Web Services.
During her time there, she has helped oversee Amazon’s rise to become the leading corporate buyer of clean power globally, securing offtake from a portfolio of projects greater in size than that of the power generation fleets of entire countries, like Chile and Belgium.
In 2023, Amazon matched 100% of the power used by its operations, including data centres, with renewables – hitting its target for doing so seven years early.
McQuade is a vocal figure in the industry, telling Recharge in interviews about her frustrations regarding wind power permitting and her view on corporates can help bring more projects to market.
Given Amazon’s huge role as a clean energy buyer, McQuade remains one of the most significant figures in the industry today.
Catherine MacGregor – Engie, CEO
Following from McQuade, energy chief at the world’s biggest corporate clean power buyer, next comes the chief executive of the world’s leading corporate clean power supplier.
Catherine MacGregor has led Engie since 2021 and has helped the French utility cement itself as one of the world’s leading providers of corporate power purchase agreements, recently recapturing top spot according to a BloombergNEF ranking.
Engie is also a 50/50 partner with EDPR in the Ocean Winds joint venture that has been a major player in fixed bottom and floating wind.
Just this year, MacGregor has overseen Engie’s move to buy UK Power Networks, which has distribution licences covering London as well as southeast and eastern England.
That £10.5bn ($14bn) deal signalled that Engie – like European peer Iberdrola – is also pivoting towards investment in networks infrastructure, seen as a more stable moneymaker after a volatile few years for wind and solar.
Speaking at Davos in January, MacGregor also said the fight is on for wind against “fake news and crazy stuff” following a typically error-strewn rant at the Swiss summit from the US commander in chief.
Angie (Chao) Zhang – Mingyang, Co-President
Angie Zhang has played a central role in the push by Chinese turbine giant Mingyang into international markets over the last year.
Mingyang has been more scrutinised and attacked than perhaps any other wind sector company in the West recently thanks to its ambitions to sell offshore wind turbines in Europe and open up a factory in the UK.
Zhang – the daughter of the turbine maker’s chair, Chuanwei Zhang – helped seal one a breakthrough alliance between Mingyang and UK-based energy group and software innovator Octopus Energy, a move designed to help allay fears that the Chinese supplier’s turbines could pose a security threat.
This year, Zhang has been in the spotlight for another reason. Mingyang has moved to buy Uniwatt – a supplier of space-based solar panels that she owns – in a deal that initially sent the turbine maker’s share price skyrocketing (something SpaceX owner Elon Musk may have also had an unlikely role in).
While that transaction continues to progress, Zhang has been promoted from senior vice president to co-president at Mingyang.
Elbia Gannoum – CEO, Brazilian Wind Industry Association
Gannoum is the long-standing chief executive of the Brazilian Wind Industry Association (ABEEólica), which provides a vital voice for the industry in what is one of the largest onshore markets globally.
The Brazilian wind sector has in recent years hit the rocks, with deployment slowed by limited grid capacity from the country’s windy north to its populous south. In a recent interview with Recharge, Gannoum also pointed to other reasons, including over-investment in distributed solar.
Gannoum has been a tireless voice for the wind industry in Brazil during this difficult period and has pushed for changes that could help turn the tide.
For one, the signing into law of Brazil’s offshore wind law by President Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva sees the country move closer to opening up its vast coastline to turbines at sea. That was something the industry has been “anxiously awaiting” but nevertheless came at a good time, said Gannoum.
Gannoum also holds several other roles in the sector, including serving as a vice chair of GWEC. She was also a special envoy for Brazil at the COP30 climate summit in the city of Belém in 2025.
Liz Burdock – CEO, Oceantic Network
Another woman leading a wind industry association in a country where the sector has – to put it mildly – faced recent headwinds is Liz Burdock, the CEO of Oceantic Network.
As head of an organisation aimed at building and defending the US offshore wind sector, to say Burdock has been busy this last year would be an understatement.
US President Trump has set out to destroy the sector since his first day back in The White House last year, signing an executive order to halt permitting of all new US offshore wind farms and place existing projects under review.
His administration has gone on to target all projects currently under construction – even those nearing completion – with stop work orders, which have each been lifted on a preliminary basis while court challenges against them are heard.
Burdock and Oceantic have been outspoken in their defence of the sector, submitting declarations in several of the legal cases.
As an unabashed champion of a sector under attack, Burdock will continue to be a crucial voice for the industry for the remainder of the Trump administration.
Christina Aabo – Women in Renewable Energy Denmark, Chair
Christina Aabo is a global wind industry veteran who has for the last few years been working to reshape the industry from the bottom up through the association she co-founded in 2024, Women in Renewable Energy Denmark (WiRED).
Aabo has a formidable CV, having worked as vice president for product management, technology and R&D at leading turbine-maker Vestas, before spending over a decade at Danish developer Orsted, including as head of its R&D team.
In recent years, she has worked as a chief product consultant at Danish renewables advisory Green Ducklings as well as acting as a professional board member at a range of companies.
Through WiRED, she is now working to provide a professional forum to strengthen the role and impact of women across Denmark’s renewable energy sector.
The association focuses on helping its members achieve professional growth and representation in leadership positions. It also aims to inspire women to join and stay in the renewables sector.
WiRED is an explicitly grassroots organisation – members must be individuals, companies are not allowed. As of this year, it boasts over 100 women with an average of well over a decade’s experience in wind and solar.
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