US Wind Inc. (“US Wind”) has named Jeffrey Grybowski as Chief Executive Officer.
Grybowski will lead US Wind as the company embarks on development of a major offshore wind project off the coast of Maryland. In August, funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE: APO) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “Apollo”) committed to invest up to $265 million in convertible debt and equity to acquire an equity stake in US Wind and fund development and construction costs for its offshore wind project.
Grybowski is the former Chief Executive Officer of Deepwater Wind, the pioneering American offshore wind company. Under Grybowski’s leadership over nearly a decade, the company developed and constructed the Block Island Wind Farm, the first offshore wind farm in the United States, and secured a portfolio of offshore wind power contracts across multiple US East Coast states.
“We are very excited to have Jeff lead our team at US Wind,” said Riccardo Toto, Managing Director of Renexia SpA, the principal owner of US Wind. “His experience in navigating the complex development system in the United States is unmatched. We are building an innovative company at US Wind, and Jeff is the perfect person to lead it.”
Apollo’s Brad Fierstein, a member of US Wind’s board of directors, added, “Jeff is a proven leader in US offshore wind, and an excellent addition to the US Wind platform as we execute on our mission to bring clean energy and new jobs to Maryland.”
“I’m thrilled to be joining the US Wind team. We have big plans to deliver offshore wind to the state of Maryland,” said Grybowski. “This company had a strategic vision for offshore wind in the US long before others in Europe made the jump to this market. We will build on that vision and together with strong financial backing from Apollo Funds, we will make US Wind a major player in the offshore wind space, as a nimble and entrepreneurial company that knows how to execute complex projects in the US.”
US Wind was an early mover in the offshore wind sector in the United States by acquiring the 80,000-acre federal lease area off of the coast of Maryland in 2014. In 2017, the Company was awarded Offshore Renewable Energy Credits (ORECs) from the State of Maryland for the first phase of its MarWin project. In total, the Company’s lease area can support approximately 1,500 MW of offshore wind capacity. In 2019, Maryland passed the Clean Energy Jobs Act, which increased the state’s offshore wind requirements, calling for an additional 1,200 MW to be procured from developers with projects near Maryland.
