Equinor has appointed Jacques-Etienne Michel as country manager for Vietnam to build its offshore wind presence in the country.
Before coming to Vietnam, Michel served as country manager for Equinor in South Korea.
In addition, Michel have also served as country manager for Equinor in Australia from October 2015 to October 2018, as well as various roles within business development and finance & control at Equinor.
Equinor first established an office in Hanoi in May 2022 to pursue opportunities within offshore wind.
Ingunn Svegården, senior vice president for renewables Asia-Pacific at Equinor, said: “Jacques-Etienne Michel has played an important role in building our footprint in Korea, growing from an office consisting of two people to now having a team of around 60 people maturing a multi-gigawatt pipeline of offshore wind opportunities.
“With the new power development plan now passed, Vietnam is an interesting emerging offshore wind market for Equinor, and we are excited to have Jacques join the team in Hanoi to pursue opportunities in Vietnam together with our existing team there.”
Michel added: “The passing of the PDP8 power development plan sets clear renewable energy goals for Vietnam and is a clear call to action for the renewable industry that Vietnam really means business.
“As a broad energy company, Equinor has a long history of working together with Vietnamese companies.
“We hope to build on these relationships as well as our experience from the offshore wind industry in developing offshore wind projects in Vietnam together with local partners, supplying zero carbon energy and creating local jobs related to our projects.”
Equinor has established a partnership and close cooperation with PVN through the signing of an MoU and is jointly pursuing offshore wind opportunities together with PTSC, a subsidiary of PVN.