George Hardie

Emeritus Board Member

Vice President, Business Development, North America, Pattern Energy Group

George Hardie has more than 20 years of experience in the wind industry, he has been responsible for the development or acquisition of more than a dozen projects in the United States, United Kingdom and Central America, totaling more than 2,000 MW. At Pattern Development, he has been the lead developer or originator of many of the company’s largest projects including Hatchet Ridge and Spring Valley. He has also led the acquisition of several projects including two in Canada’s Ontario Province (Armow and K2) totaling 450 MW, as well as the 300 MW Finavera Portfolio of wind projects in British Columbia and, most recently, the acquisition of the 200 MW Logan’s Gap Project in Texas and the 150 MW Fowler Ridge IV project in Indiana.

George founded his first wind company, International Wind Companies, in 1991. He and his investors sold the company to the Zilkha family in 1998, which was subsequently renamed Zilkha Renewable Energy. George stayed on as President and CEO for almost 4 years, establishing the team that made Zilkha one of the fastest growing renewable energy companies in the world and paving the way for Goldman Sachs to acquire the company two years later. In 2003, George left Zilkha to start a new company, G3 Energy, which was subsequently acquired by Babcock & Brown in late 2005. G3 Energy projects that were successfully financed, constructed and operated include the 38 MW Buena Vista Repowering Project in California’s Altamont Pass and the 150 MW Spring Valley Project in Nevada, which was awarded the 2012 Powergen Magazine US Wind Project of the Year.

George holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University. After graduating from SMU, he played professional tennis for six years playing in 16 Grand Slam events and achieving a career-high world ranking of number 80.