Aaron Smith ranked 78 most influential person in the 2021 North American Power List

Aaron Smith, Principle Power’s Chief Commercial Officer, has been named as one of the most influential people in the North American wind sector. The A Word About Wind-published North American Power List (NAPL) highlights the key trends in North America’s wind industry over the last 12 months, in the 10th anniversary of A Word About Wind power lists.

Aaron receives this nomination in recognition of his work leading the global expansion of California-headquartered floating specialist Principle Power and championing the development of floating wind in the USA. Principle Power has been at the forefront of floating offshore wind development worldwide: its WindFloat® floating platform has now been deployed in Portugal, on the 25 MW WindFloat Atlantic project, and in Scotland, on the 50 MW Kincardine windfarm. With a multi-GW commercial pipeline globally, Principle Power is the market leader in floating offshore wind technology.

“I’m truly honoured to be featured alongside so many other industry leaders in the 2021 North American Power List, and I would like to extend this distinction to all of the Principle Power team who has worked so hard to make floating offshore wind a reality," Aaron said. "Since the company was founded in 2007, we have proven the WindFloat® in Europe and established it as the floating foundation of choice around the world. I'm really excited about the near-term prospect of taking our technology back home to enable large-scale deployments in the USA." 

In the US, wind farms totaling 16.9 GW were commissioned in 2020, representing an 85% increase over 2019, according to the American Clean Power Association. In December, an extra 17.3 GW was being built and 17.5 GW in advanced development. There are now over 122.5 GW of operational wind farms in the US. We have seen the emergence of US offshore wind too. 

Richard Heap, Editor-In-Chief, A Word About Wind, said: “It’s been a tumultuous year in US politics but, despite that, wind has continued to grow strongly. Another extension of the wind production tax credit in the final days of the Trump presidency gave the sector a boost. Now it’s down to President Biden to build the momentum behind US wind, and harness enthusiasm from states, corporates, and the industry. That can boost wind in the US itself and the wider North American region”.

He added that the growth in North American wind over the last five years is the result of strong leadership from a wide range of industry leaders: “Put simply, the North American wind industry wouldn’t be where it is today without the crucial contributions of the leaders in our top 100 list, as well as the thousands of other experts who they work with. It’s been an exceptionally difficult couple of years due to the pandemic, but the US wind industry just keeps powering on”.

To download a copy of the report please visit A Word About Wind's website.