– We have wind in our sails!

Alexander Risøy, CEO of Nebb Engineering, is board member of Energy Valley and has been a part of Energy Valley (originally Subsea Valley) since the beginning.  

– Erik Jølberg and Ansgar Karlsen came to us and asked if we wanted to be part of a new initiative, Subsea Valley. We have since been involved in all the conferences, and for us, the meeting places and network building are the most important parts of being a member of Energy Valley, says Risøy.

He recalls that at one of the Energy Connected conferences, they signed contracts with several of those they met.

– We are dependent on meeting people and making contacts. I heard that 80% of the members of Energy Valley are active, and maybe 20% are not, which says a lot about how valuable people find their involvement.

Nebb is a company enabling Industry 4.0, by delivering industrial IoT solutions within controls, automation, software engineering, mechatronics, and power electronics.

In the last ten years, they have built up a large division that works with cloud solutions, in addition to the traditional engineering and controls automation teams, Risøy explains.

So, what are you doing now?

– Everyone is talking about IT and OT convergence, and we have both the OT part, which is control systems and production technology, and the IT part. The hottest topic today is to make it work effectively, utilize the history and capabilities we have, and get this moved to the cloud, says Risøy and adds:

– We have many exciting projects within a range of industries. Right now there are a lot of projects in renewable energy – wind and hydrogen. One of the most interesting trends is that requests have started to come from the cloud perspective instead of coming from the control perspective. So there is a lot happening. We get so many inquiries now that a priority is to build capacity, and that’s fun! I feel like we have a lot of wind in our sails!

What challenges and opportunities do you see for the future?

– The principal challenge has to be fair access to energy without compromising the environment or public safety. This has become increasingly evident in the light of the situation in Eastern Europe. It is one of the biggest uncertainties and risks, with no easy solution. Before, people were very concerned about emissions, and now they are perhaps more concerned about energy supply and security.

Risøy thinks it is interesting to look at how the conflict affects the possibilities within renewable energy.

– The cost of energy has increased, and the price of oil has gone up. Of course, it is very profitable to pump and sell oil and gas, and we must continue to do so. But production and investment in renewable energy have also become much more profitable, he says and adds:

– With a high energy price, several projects have now become profitable; and the opportunities are great. And this is happening at the same time that we see an emerging shortage of labor for the delivery of projects in the energy sector. There are both opportunities and challenges here.

Many of the challenges Risøy points out are also what can keep him awake at night.

– What will the war in Eastern Europe do to the energy supply? What will happen to these people? I think that is probably the biggest concern and should be for almost everyone. There are no easy answers here, so it is important to ensure that we in Norway do what we can around the production of gas in the short term and the development of renewable energy in the long term.

– There is a lot of available capital and interest in investing in energy, and it’s that which will drive getting projects started in both wind and hydrogen, he continues.

 How is Nebb working to achieve net zero?

– We do not have a lot of direct emissions. Still, we must do something about the emissions that we do have, especially our indirect emissions. The most important step is to measure, monitor, and document the emissions. Monitoring, as in industrial IoT, is, after all, the core of our business. Furthermore, it is important to look at the effects our products have on contributing to the reduction of emissions. Those are significant.

Which member do you want to send the baton to? 

– My namesake at FSubsea, Alexander Fuglesang.

Thank you, Alexander!