Andrew Garrad
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Andrew Douglas Garrad (born 8 November 1953) is an engineer and businessman who co-founded the wind power industry consulting company Garrad Hassan in 1984.


Early life and education

Andrew Garrad has a BA in Engineering Science from the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
and received a PhD in theoretical fluid mechanics from the
University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...
, where he studied boundary-layer flow over dolphins. His interest in wind energy was sparked by a lecture by
Ernst Schumacher Ernst Schumacher may refer to: * E. F. Schumacher Ernst Friedrich Schumacher (16 August 1911 – 4 September 1977) was a German-born British statistician and economist who is best known for his proposals for human-scale, decentralised and a ...
in Oxford, in 1971. That same year, he built his first wind turbine at his parents' home.


Career

Garrad has been professionally involved in wind energy since 1979, when he joined the Wind Energy Group. Mathematical modelling remained his main enthusiasm and Garrad Hassan was founded to provide mathematical models for various aspects of wind energy. The company mission was to be able to predict the weather, through the turbines and wind farms, the electricity they provided to the grid, and the resulting cash flow. In 1984, Garrad wrote the initial version of the wind turbine system aeroelastic code Bladed, which is still used to this day. The company produced many other computational tools later adopted by the industry. GH, together with the offshore consultancy Tecnomare, was among the first to conduct floating offshore wind turbine design studies. Although GH specialized in wind energy, it also provided parallel services in wave and tidal energy, such as with its WaveDyn software for predicting the dynamic behavior of wave energy devices. Garrad was co-Chair, with the Chinese Minister of Electric Power, of the first Chinese International Wind Energy Conference in Beijing in 1995, at a time when China had yet to develop its wind energy sector. Later on, starting at the turn of the century, GH contributed to the development of the emerging Chinese wind industry through design contracts and strategic advice on offshore wind projects. Garrad was previously Chairman of the British Wind Energy Association, now Renewable UK. He was President of European Wind Energy Association (EWEA, now Wind Europe) from 2013 to 2014. Garrad chaired Bristol's year as European Green Capital in 2015. Garrad sold Garrad Hassan to Germanischer Lloyd in 2009 and became President of the combined company, GL Garrad Hassan, and hence was responsible for both consultancy and certification. When Garrad retired in 2015, the company had grown to 1,000 staff in 29 countries. In retirement he remains active in wind energy and, in 2019, he was appointed Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Renewable Energy by the University of Bristol. In 2023 Garrad was appointed visiting professor in the Department of Engineering Mathematics. Garrad’s job is to introduce students to the engineering world outside university. In March 2024 he became Chair of the Severn Estuary Commission whose task was to investigate the feasibility of generating electricity from the Severn Estuary in the UK.


Awards and prizes

Garrad received honorary doctorates of engineering, DEng, from the University of Bristol in 2009 and from the University of Exeter in 2018. He received a DSc, Doctor of Science, from the University of Plymouth in 2024. Garrad was a member of the Council (Governing Body) of the University of Bristol from 2012 to 2016 and is on the advisory board of the Cabot Institute. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the
Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...
and an Honorary Fellow of
New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...
. Garrad was appointed a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(CBE) "for services to renewable energy" in the
2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...
. The industry magazine Wind Power Monthly has named Garrad one of "the most influential people in the wind energy business" on several occasions. The magazine referred to him on his retirement as "the godfather of wind energy technology." OGM named him one of the world's seven most influential energy leaders; Daily Magazine made a similar reference. In 2006, he received the EWEA's Poul la Cour prize for "outstanding achievements in the field of wind energy." In 2015 he became the only non-Greek recipient to have ever received the Aeolus prize from the Hellenic Wind Energy Association. In 2024 he and Henrik Stiesdal received the
Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * ...
for their work on the development of high performance wind turbines.


Private life

Garrad lives in Bristol, England and is married with four children.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrad, Andrew 1953 births Living people People associated with wind power British energy industry businesspeople English company founders 20th-century British engineers 21st-century British engineers Fellows of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering People from Braunston Alumni of the University of Exeter Alumni of the University of Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire