Wednesday 26 November, 14:00 – 15:00 | Offshore Energy Innovation Show @ The Stage
Innovation Award Show Jurymember
David Molenaar (born 1971) is a system thinker and his energy transition journey began in 1990 with a KIJK article “windenergie gratis en toch duur?”. He is thrived on working with passionate people, driving innovation, mentoring students, and advising policy. His two missions: 1) leave the planet in a better shape than he found it and 2) dare to have some serious fun while doing it.
After completing high school in Purmerend, Molenaar studied Mechanical Engineering at Delft University of Technology. There he obtained his engineering degree in 1996, specializing in Measurement and Control Engineering (applied to a wind turbine). Molenaar continued his career in the wind sector as researcher and on February 18, 2003 he succesfully defended his PhD thesis at the TU Delft PhD titled “Cost effective design and operation of variable speed wind turbines – closing the gap between the control engineering and wind engineering community”. This research was performed in close collaboration with Lagerwey and was awarded with the DOW Energy dissertation award.
Molenaar worked during his doctoral research in the period of July 2001 – January 2002 for Siemens Nederland N.V. to tender for the Dutch first offshore wind farm work. As a project manager, he was responsible for the design of a cost-support structure for the planned turbines. In 2004 he started as a project engineer at Siemens Nederland N.V. At the end of 2004 he was involved, as a technical specialist, in the acquisition of Bonus Energy A/S. In October 2005 he was appointed Business Unit Manager Wind Power. In that position Molenaar realized Siemens’ final turnkey wind farm with non-Siemens turbines. From October 2007 to date, Molenaar was also responsible for establishing and expanding the Offshore Engineering Center of Competence (CoC) from Siemens Wind Power in The Hague. From January 2017 till February 2024, Molenaar was the managing director of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy B.V.
He used his 5 month garden leave period to make an industry / government / non-governmenal organization tour to listen and learn. As a result, he started something new and something green in July 2024: Green SOCCS (Delft Offshore Turbines | Ondernemen010). Green SOCCS supports mass electrification by removing (permit) barriers in power (export) cable installation. He teamed up with his offshore brother: Jan van der Tempel and they acquired in October 2025 CrossWind’s Base Load Power Hub (new name: Phynix). In addition, as per January 1, 2025 he has been appointed as strategic advisor to the board of ECHT regie in transitie B.V.
Molenaar is one of the inventors of the patented (NL1027103C) Ampelmann system: a vessel for transferring persons or property on an offshore installation. On November 21, 2019, Molenaar has been honoured by the Dutch Royal Institute of Engineers KIvI for his contribution to the Dutch offshore industry. He is appointed as the Chairman of GROW per November 2024. On December 18, 2024, NedZero has appointed Molenaar as Member of Merit for his years of dedication and for shaping the wind energy sector in the Netherlands. Molenaar is one of the founding fathers of the Q-meeting Offshore Wind.
