Energy Consultancy Xodus Group welcomes Scottish Renewables' policy paper being launched today at Scotland's largest marine renewable energy conference in Inverness. The Aberdeen headquartered consultancy - which has vast marine energy project experience in Pentland Firth and Orkney waters - supports the recommendations made for ensuring a timely consenting process and maximising skills development from the oil and gas industry.

Colin Manson, Chief Executive of Xodus Group said: "We support the recommendations made to Government in the policy report and agree it is vital that Scotland doesn't throw away the opportunities it has in the wave and tidal sector. Scotland is producing leading experts in marine technology development, project consenting and environmental impact assessments, but now we must make sure we also maximise local expertise in subsea design and engineering."

The supply chain study commissioned by the Scottish Government's Marine Energy Group finds that 53 percent of overall capital expenditure on marine energy will be retained within Scotland, but Xodus agrees that this figure could be much higher with appropriate investment in transferring skills from existing industries, particularly for design, installation and maintenance.

Mr Manson added: "We have the opportunity to become a world-leading sector, but key to success is the quality of the design and materials used and there is a wealth of knowledge from the existing offshore industries of what works in harsh subsea environments and that needs to be captured in a joined up way. There is a risk that the level of subsea engineering experience required to get a marine device into operation is being underestimated and ultimately that lack of upfront investment could have consequences on meeting energy targets."

The report also highlights the need to simplify and speed up the consenting process in order to meet targets for renewable energy. Xodus has been involved in helping to secure a number of consents for organisations including Aquamarine Power, Scottish Power Renewables and Atlantis Resources and is currently delivering £500,000 worth of contracts in the Pentland Firth and Orkney. The consultancy recently won a three year contract with SSE Renewables to carry out an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Costa Head offshore wave site, north of Mainland Orkney.

Liz Foubister, specialist consultant at Xodus Aurora, the Group's environmental division, said: "When it comes to consenting, we agree that there needs to be greater flexibility to take account of the novel nature of the industry and likely design changes prior to installation."

Tags: Xodus Group