The 2024 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering has been jointly awarded to Andrew Garrad and Henrik Stiesdal for their achievements in advancing the design, manufacture and deployment of high-performance wind turbines.

Garrad and Stiesdal made significant engineering inputs, developing the early technology and maintaining their presence in leading positions as the industry has grown, enabling the world’s biggest rotating machines.

Henrik Stiesdal has developed elegant innovations for increasing the scale and efficiency of wind turbines. In 1991, he was responsible for the turbine design for the world’s first offshore wind farm, and he subsequently developed several new key features of the offshore turbines that are set to deliver 50 per cent of Europe’s electricity by 2050. His specific innovations include wind turbine blades cast in one piece, and direct-drive generators for offshore wind turbines eliminating the need for gearboxes.

The BLADED computational design tool, pioneered by Andrew Garrad, has allowed engineers to model a complicated turbine system in its entirety and to predict its behaviour with the confidence needed to permit manufacture of these huge machines. It has been used all over the world ushering in a rapid expansion of the global manufacturing base. A similar analytical approach to wind farm yield pioneered widespread project finance by providing rigorous risk assessments of potential wind farm investment.

Commenting on the award, RenewableUK’s Chief Executive Dan McGrail said: “Andrew has played a crucial role in the birth and rapid development of the UK’s world-class wind industry, and indeed the global growth of the sector, so I am absolutely delighted that his pioneering work has been recognised in this prestigious award.

“I’d also like to congratulate Henrik for his award which recognises his pivotal work in the development of turbine technology and the leading role he played in building the world’s first offshore wind farm off the coast of Denmark. This project kickstarted a whole new industry and pointed the way for the UK to become a leading player in this sector, placing offshore wind at the centre of our clean energy system”.

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