Seabased profile: Project Management Officer Daniel Käller
Daniel Käller was only 19 when he started working on Seabased’s wave energy technology a decade ago. It was just supposed to be a summer gig after he graduated in 2011. As it turned out, helping to build an emerging industry in the challenging environment of the world’s oceans was a perfect match for a low-key Swedish guy who spends his free time doing extreme sports.
“When I started I didn’t know what to expect. I was really nervous—it was so scary going down to the big city to work with doctors and professors, but I quickly got comfortable,” he said.
Growing up with wave energy
Daniel started as a project assistant at Uppsala University in the Department of Electrical Engineering working on the marine substation electrical system for an R&D project at Islandsberg. After that he worked on the prototype of the marine current generator and final assembly of the generator and dry testing in the lab. Next, he was pegged to work on the prototype development and installation of the Wave Energy Converter. In 2012, he followed the technology to Seabased and became team leader for the final assembly of the generator with responsibility for 20 builders. Two years later, Daniel was promoted to Installation and Maintenance officer where he was responsible for installation in Sweden, Ghana, and elsewhere.
Since then he’s grown into the role of Project Management Officer responsible for developing and managing feasibility studies and site visits, planning and executing installation projects, and managing grants…among other things.
“When I started,” he said, “we were a Swedish engineering company. We were like Saab, built by engineers for engineers… Now we’re more like the US startups; the business part of it feels like it’s being done a completely different way.” What has remained from the early days, he said, is the sense that he’s surrounded by people who are excited by what they do and positive about the company and its future.
“We’ve always had good people involved who liked to learn and like what they’re doing and that made work a lot more fun,” he said.
The feeling is mutual. “Daniel brings great energy to the team,” said Seabased CEO Laurent Albert. “He’s smart and flexible; he approaches every new project with enthusiasm and he’s quick to learn and gain expertise. He is a strong team player.”
Since he’s participated in the evolution of the company from R&D to the current process of preparing for industrial ramp-up, his deep knowledge of the company has only grown more important.
“I have actually built the generator, so I have a hands-on understanding of how it works and how it’s put together. I have installed demonstration parks on two continents. I have seen what we have done before, and I can help take that into account when we do something new. In most of the cases I can explain what we learned, including what we learned not to do again,” Daniel said. “We’re still quite a small company and we all have to do a lot of different things. I couldn’t just sit in the corner working on one thing. We have really effective communication and a lot of flexibility; that’s how small companies survive.”
Project Management Officer Daniel Käller
intrepid at work and play
When he’s not working, Daniel’s often skiing, kite-skiing, roller skiing, hunting moose or engaging in some other adventure sport. Working at a company that is trying to bring a whole new industry to the world can be risky, as jobs go, compared to working for an established company in a mature industry. Daniel, though, as an adventurous soul, is less focused on the risk than on the opportunity to contribute to something he really believes in.
“Of course I think renewables are the future,” Daniel said. “Either we stop using electricity or find an environmentally friendly way to create it, those are the only two options we have. I truly believe in wave energy and I believe we can make it work, not just for Seabased but for other companies as well. If other companies succeed, that’s good for us too. Nobody remembers who built the first wind turbine now, it’s about building capacity to power the world with clean energy. It’s really cool to start a new industry and a whole new way of thinking.”
