2026 WIND ENERGY PIONEER:
Karen Conover

Every year NAWEA recognizes a pioneer in wind energy – someone who played a critical role in making wind energy a reliable and cost-effective source of electricity for North America.

Karen Conover will be recognized at the conference banquet Tuesday September 22. She will share some of her experiences and answer your questions on what it was like to be there in a time when nothing was certain.”

Karen Conover has more than 40 years of international experience with renewable energy technologies, helping clients with development, technology, and operational challenges on projects in dozens of countries over six continents.  She founded a consulting engineering company, which was acquired by DNV in 2008, and she served as DNV’s Global Wind Segment Director and Vice President for over 15 years.

Karen served on the board of the American Wind Energy Association (now American Clean Power) for 20+ years.  She is a founding board member of Women in Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE) and was chosen as one of the inaugural ambassadors for the US DOE Clean Energy, Education and Empowerment (C3E) program, a part of the global Clean Energy Ministerial.  Karen has been recognized as Industry Woman of the Year (WRISE, 2010), Outstanding Contributor to the Wind Industry (AWEA, 2012), and a Wind Energy Influencers and Innovator (Windpower Engineering, 2011 and 2016).  In recent years, Karen served as a mentor in the Women in Wind Global Leadership Program, on the boards of Repowering Schools and the Seattle Public Library Foundation, and as a Public Voices Fellow of the OpEd Project and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.  She holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and was recognized with a Distinguished Alumni Award from Duke’s School of Engineering.  She also holds an M.S.E. from the University of Arizona.  She lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and two daughters.