Star of the South hires new chief executive

Australian offshore wind farm project Star of the South has appointed Charles Rattray as its chief executive, effective from August.

Rattray has experience across generation development, new technology and transmission.

He succeeds Casper Frost, who stepped down as CEO in March after two-and-a-half-years.

Most recently Rattray was managing director at Nexif Energy, where he oversaw energy projects through all stages of the project lifecycle including the Lincoln Gap wind farm and Snapper Point gas peaking plant.

He has previously launched two energy services businesses to leverage opportunities in new markets and had a long career in the banking and finance sector, in both principal investment and lending for energy, infrastructure and mining.

Erin Coldham is currently acting CEO and will resume her role as chief development officer in August.

Star of the South chairman Thomas Wibe Poulsen said: We are pleased to have attracted Charles to lead the Star of the South team as the project continues to pave the way for an offshore wind industry in Victoria and Australia.

Charles joins at an exciting time as federal legislation comes into effect enabling offshore wind projects and following a 9GW offshore wind target announced for Victoria.

His experience working with new technologies and developing projects in the Australian market will strongly complement the specialist offshore wind expertise in the team.

We look forward to welcoming Charles in August, when he will assume his new responsibilities, and I thank Erin Coldham for her leadership as acting CEO in the interim.

Star of the South is a planned 2.2GW project, with up to 200 turbines off the Gippsland coast and underground cables connecting to the Latrobe Valley, to power up to 1.2 million homes.