Shaun Campbell, Windpower Monthly editor from 2016 to 2020, dies at 67

Shaun Campbell, who edited Windpower Monthly from 2016 to 2020, died in August at the age of 67 after a short illness^[1]. The title announced his death this week, describing him as a journalist whose career spanned motorsport, transport, and ultimately wind energy.

A career built across beats

Campbell's route to wind energy journalism was unconventional. His first significant role was as editorial assistant on Garage and Transport Operator in the early 1980s. He was a motorsport enthusiast from a young age and worked across a series of automobile titles, including as editor of Autocar. He later served as editor of Transport Operator after that title split into two magazines, and as a freelancer contributed to FourFourTwo and African Soccer, among other publications.

Seven years at Windpower Monthly

Campbell joined Windpower Monthly on a freelance basis in 2013 and became features editor in time for the February 2014 issue. In 2016 he was promoted to editor - a role he held until leaving the title in 2020.

His tenure covered a period of significant change for the global wind industry:

• Offshore wind costs fell sharply as European auction results repeatedly broke price records.
• The US market navigated repeated production tax credit extensions and the early years of large-scale offshore development.
• China's onshore build-out accelerated, reshaping global turbine supply chains.

Colleagues' recollections

David Weston, Windpower Monthly's former news editor, worked with Campbell for six years. "Shaun had a tremendous impact on me as a young journalist and still guides me in my career," Weston said. "From my first tentative steps into the Haymarket office - and journalism - I sat opposite him for much of the next six years, listening and learning, enamoured by his stories from his days as a motoring journalist."

Weston added: "You knew how close his deadline was by the ferocity of his typing."

Windpower Monthly extended condolences to Campbell's long-term partner Nikki and their two children, Douglas and Caitlin.

Windpower Monthly, published by Haymarket Media Group, has covered the global wind industry since 1985 and remains one of the sector's principal trade titles. Campbell's editorship coincided with the period in which wind power moved from a niche technology to a mainstream generation source across Europe, the US, and Asia.