Advisory Lead Team
Benefit from the Wood Thilsted experience.
Your Advisory Lead Team
Andreas Elkjær
Head of Advisory
▶ Expertise in delivering foundations as a service.
▶ Intimate understanding of developer’s foundation package needs.
▶ Set strategic direction for build-out of monopile supply chain in Europe and beyond.
▶ Reduce supply chain complexity with integrated product thinking and fabricability.
Andreas has held key positions in the Offshore Wind Industry for two decades and has gained expert knowledge in how to effectively deliver foundations as a service for a portfolio of projects. He has been instrumental in setting the strategic direction for the build-out of the monopile supply chain, especially in Europe. Through several strategic lever development projects, he has driven down total cost and taken out complexity whilst always having an eye for fabricability and integrated product thinking.
Andreas intimately understands what a developer needs from the foundations package to make offshore wind projects and portfolios successful.
Specialisations:
▶ Foundations as a service where all activities from idea until delivery of foundations at the fabricator are included
▶ CAPEX and DEVEX budget input for auction tenders
▶ Sourcing Strategies delivering plans for how to timely secure access to critical components and raw materials
▶ Procurement of foundations and steel plates. Strategic negotiations of capacity agreements and volume agreements.
▶ Strategic Product Development securing safe, simple and robust cost-effective solutions. Focus on fabricability, transportability, repeatability, reliability.
▶ Cost out programs efficiently driving down total cost
▶ Supplier Relationship Management
▶ Supplier Performance Management
▶ Offshore structural engineering Monopiles, gravity base foundations, jackets
Christian possesses expert knowledge in Project Development and Bid Preparation, with over ten years of experience in the offshore wind industry. His commercial background, coupled with a deep understanding of engineering and extensive experience in the early phases of wind farm development, enables him to optimise value and effectively minimise risks in offshore wind farm projects.
Christian has led efforts to contribute to more than 90 business cases for offshore wind farms worldwide, focusing on pre-bid and maturation stages.
Specialisations:
▶ Offshore wind foundations input to bids and business cases Responsible for delivering comprehensive input to bids across a global project portfolio, including pricing strategies, supply chain scenarios, local content strategies, technical designs, concept choices, and risk management.
▶ Expertise in budget build-up for Jackets and Monopiles Strong experience in scenario building for creating a budget. Extensive insights to different budget components, including inherent sensitivities and contingencies to base budget.
▶ CAPEX costing tool development Led the development and maintenance of CAPEX costing tools for Monopiles and Jackets for over five years, ensuring accuracy and adaptability.
▶ Cost optimisation of offshore wind foundations Extensive expertise in holistic cost optimisation, covering design, fabrication, raw material supply, and installation (Jacket and Monopiles)
CHRISTIAN SONNEMANN
Chief Consultant
▶ Expertise in Project Development and Bid Preparation.
▶ Contributed to more than 90 business cases for offshore wind farms worldwide.
▶ Led the development and maintenance of CAPEX costing tools, ensuring accuracy and adaptability.
▶ Extensive expertise in holistic cost optimisation, covering design, fabrication, raw material supply, and installation.
Christian Thilsted
CTO and Co-Founder
▶ A pioneer in offshore wind development, renowned for developing advanced engineering software for turbine foundations.
▶ Extensive expertise in the effective execution of site investigations, detailed design and optimisation of offshore structures.
▶ Played a pivotal role in expanding Wood Thilsted’s capabilities across geotechnical, structural and metocean disciplines.
Christian has held key positions in the Offshore Wind Industry for decades and has
expert knowledge in effective execution of site investigations through to detailed design
and optimisation of offshore structures ensuring a holistic overview of critical activities across all phases.
Christian has an engineering specialist background with an excellent academic track record provides the ability to apply engineering efficiently to optimise value and minimise risks of offshore wind farm developments.
Project Highlights:
▶ Dogger Bank 2 (1.2GW) (2020-2021)
Technical reviewer of geotechnical and primary structure work packages.
▶ Dogger Bank A (1.2GW) (2019-2021)
Lead Geotechnical Design Engineer. Preparing design briefs and delivering detailed geotechnical design using PISA methodology combined wit WTs inhouse cyclic degradation procedure and 3DFE soil-structure calculations at all positions. Achieving certification by DNVGL.
▶ Vineyard Wind (800MW) (2017-2019)
Detailed design of the 800MW offshore wind farm in US. Work included the technical lead role for primary steel, load iterations and clustering.
Danny is a highly experienced structural engineer and manager, operating for more
than 15 years within the offshore wind industry, and 25 years in the wider energy industry.
He is very comfortable in a multi-disciplinary environment and has a broad appreciation energy client needs and drivers. He is the Director responsible for environmental services and Special Projects within Wood Thilsted and has focused recently on design for manufacture and installation for fixed and floating wind technology.
Danny leads the company’s work to serve the global transition to renewable energy, as Head of Sustainability.
Specialisations:
▶ Structural engineering
▶ Floating structures
▶ Innovation in design and procurement
▶ Fabrication
▶ Wind Farm Design
▶ Decarbonisation and holistic sustainability
▶ Concrete design
DANNY BONNETT
Director, Sustainability
▶Highly experienced structural engineer and manager.
▶Strong multi-disciplinary engineering leadership and understanding of energy client needs.
▶Expertise in design for manufacture and installation for fixed and floating technologies.
▶Chair of Nature Inclusive Joint Industry Project launched in 2024.
Robert Jones
Director
▶ Fellow Chartered Accountant with “Big Four” Audit and Advisory experience.
▶ Highly experienced at financial forecasting, modelling, reporting frameworks and due diligence processes.
▶ Delivered and embedded ESG programmes into progressive organisations.
Robert has held senior positions within Wood Thilsted since its foundation, including
the role of Chief Financial Officer. Coupled with a background of Big 4 Audit and Advisory services, Robert leads on due diligence and financial modelling at Wood Thilsted.
Leading Wood Thilsted to B Corp accreditation and qualified under the ICAEW Sustainability Reporting framework Robert is also leading the charge in driving companies to act responsibly and transparently.
Specialisations:
▶ Sustainability Reporting Robert has successfully delivered ESG programmes embedding them into organisations.
▶ Financial Forecasting As a Fellow Chartered Accountant Robert is experienced at translating client requirements into robust modelling and reporting frameworks. Allowing clients to gain insight from their data to make timely and effective decisions.
▶ Due Diligence With a robust Big 4 background Robert understands the needs and requirements of both buyer and seller in due diligence processes. Having held senior roles within WT since its foundation his knowledge of where both financial and technical risks and opportunities lie helps fairly reflect value in the DD process.
With 35 years’ experience in geotechnical, civil, and marine engineering and project management, Chris has international onshore and marine experience of engineering and environmental consultancy, contracting and manufacturing. This has been for the construction, defence, renewable power, oil and gas, nuclear decommissioning, and subsea telecommunications industries, with a strong background in the routing and burial of offshore product (both cable and pipeline) for the oil and gas, subsea telecom, and power industries.
His offshore wind experience started with the Blyth Offshore Wind Farm in 1999, continuing through Round 1, 2 and 3 projects in the UK, plus windfarms in Europe, USA, Japan, Korea, and Australia and includes Fixed and Floating Offshore Wind, cable infrastructure and port / O&M facilities. Chris started working on subsea cable projects in 1998, initially telecom, but increasingly power cables (including interconnectors and offshore wind).
He is Co-Chair of the European Subsea Cable Association Renewables and Power Cables Subgroup.
Specialisations:
▶ Subsea Cable Routing and Installation
▶ Offshore Wind Ports
▶ Offshore Wind Supply Chain
▶ Project Management
CHRIS LOMAX
Associate Director
▶ International experience of engineering and environmental consultancy, contracting and manufacturing.
▶ Strong background in routing and burial of offshore cables (power and telecom) and pipelines.
▶ Sector Co-Chair at the European Subsea Cable Association.
NAVIGATING THE COMPLEXITIES OF OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS,ACCELERATING THE GREEN ENERGY TRANSITION.
BENEFIT FROM THE WOOD THILSTED EXPERIENCE
Contact the Wood Thilsted Advisory team to empower your offshore wind development.