Expert commitments
Xodus launches new alternative energy business stream
to its oil and gas stable
As the UK and worldwide communities rush to meet ambitious renewable energy targets set by governments around the globe, one Aberdeen head-quartered energy consultancy has responded by launching a new business stream.
Already well established in the environmental sector, following its acquisition of Orkney based environmental consultancy AURORA Environmental Limited in 2007, the company has added a new service line to an already impressive stable of disciplines.
Launched at the All Energy conference in Aberdeen on May 19 the alternative energy business stream will harness the expertise of the established Xodus stable of disciplines that includes subsea, technical, risk and safety (TSR), process and facilities and integration technologies.
The new business stream is reinforcing the group’s commitment to renewables, and will incorporate all of the group’s current integrated expertise and harness it to provide consultancy and project deliverability to on and offshore wind projects as well as wave and tidal developments.
As the marine energy sector has continued to gather pace, and offshore windfarm projects become a reality, Xodus has recognised the potential that this rapidly expanding industry represents, and so the launch of a full alternative energy business stream has been made in response to this market.
Rounds
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) will also feature as part of the new alternative energy offering in the UK and further afield.
There have already been three UK wide licensing rounds for offshore wind and a Scottish territorial seas round has also been completed. Add to this the first awards of wave and tidal licenses for the Pentland Firth and it is obvious that there is a burgeoning renewables sector on our doorstep. Driven in part by the role it will play in our future energy mix and the need to meet challenging targets - the Scottish Government wants to see 50 per cent of energy generated from renewable sources by 2020 - the alternative energy industry is growing at a tremendous pace.
In addition the latest budget announcement pledged that £2billion will be invested in a “Green” bank over the next four years, allowing renewable energy developers to make the important leap from low funded projects to the reality of delivering large scale wind, tidal and wave installations.
“We have already cemented our reputation in the environmental sector by playing a crucial role in prototype deployment, permit applications and environmental impact assessments (EIA’s). We are now taking this to the next level - effectively pooling the Group’s capabilities in subsea, technical, risk and safety (TSR), process and facilities and integration technologies and applying our knowledge to the evolving renewables sector.” Said Liz Foubister, director of alternative energy and based in Orkney.
It will be no surprise to the industry that Xodus has aligned itself with the innovative market of renewables. With a company strategy that is based on offering thought provoking pioneering solutions to the oil and gas industry, cohesively packaging these talents and enabling renewables companies to take advantage of them is a natural next step and reflects the group’s forward thinking behaviour towards the global energy markets.
Eric Doyle, new alternative energy manager at Xodus and based in Aberdeen said: “As a group we are positioning ourselves at the forefront of the renewables industry. We have a subsea “super-team” of expertise that can play a crucial role in design, installation and asset management - from engineering structures to operations in deepwater harsh environments. Our TSR team can offer real solutions to technical safety and risk management challenges and the group’s process and facilities teams will play an important role in addressing the challenges around generating and distributing the electricity. Our in-house experts from the Xodus integrated technology division will support our internal processes and systems to ensure compatibility and project delivery. “
Eric concludes:
“Our core activities transfer directly from oil and gas to renewables so for us it is a seamless transition that will benefit the entire renewables supply chain. We already possess impeccable credentials on the environmental side of the renewables sectors and what we are doing is rolling this out across the whole spectrum of our energy business in order to facilitate the next phase in offshore wind, wave and tidal energy development.”
Testing
There are some challenges ahead for the UK renewables industry, not least the construction of huge wind turbines and test sites to safely analyse these structures. In addition wave and tidal technologies require supplementary testing to bring them from the prototype stage through to commercial viability. However with strategically placed expertise such as that of Xodus Group responding to these challenges by pro-actively addressing some of the skills and specialist disciplines issues, the renewables industry is set to benefit from the experience and capabilities of one of the UK’s leading energy consultancies.
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