Vestas wants to add a big-hitter from the US to its board, with William Fehrman – for many years a top executive at tycoon Warren Buffett’s energy empire – up for election as a director.

Fehrman is one of two new directors put forward for approval by shareholders at the Denmark-based global wind power giant’s annual meeting in April.

Fehrman is currently CEO of network infrastructure specialist Centuri Group. He was between 2018 and 2023 the CEO of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy – one of America’s biggest wind power owners – and previously held other key roles in the billionaire’s US energy companies, including its renewables operation.

In notes ahead of the board election, Vestas said Fehrman would bring “in-depth knowledge of the North American renewable energy industry, strong political understanding of issues relating to renewable energy [and] extensive knowledge of wind turbine commercial contracts”.

The US is a hugely important market for Vestas, where it is the only European wind OEM giving local champion GE a run for its money in the onshore market and has potential orders lined up in the nation’s fledgling offshore sector.

Vestas was the number two OEM behind GE in 2023 with 30% of the market totaling 1.91GW, according to latest data from American Clean Power.

The other new director up for election at the Vestas meeting on 9 April is Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, a former top executive with Maersk.

Current directors Bruce Harvey Grant and Kentaro Hosomi are not standing for reelection.