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Press Release – May 2008

Xodus Boosts Marine Renewables Capability with New Specialist Service
Xodus Group, announced today at the UK’s largest renewable energy show – All Energy 08 – that it has added to its growing business with the launch of a new marine renewables service for the offshore industry.

To ensure the future security of the increasing demand for electricity and address the need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, Xodus Group has established an integrated service to actively support the development of renewable energy sources.

The fast growing international oil and gas consultancy will transfer a number of its skills from the oil and gas sector over to the renewables industry. In particular Xodus will draw on its environmental expertise from  Xodus AURORA and engineering skills from Xodus Subsea, providing an integrated approach to capitalize on the marine renewables market place.

Colin Manson, Xodus managing director, said: “Branching out into the marine renewables industry is a key strategic move for Xodus Group.  With interest in sustainable tidal, wave and offshore wind energy increasing, it is vital to make sure measures are built into the marine engineering design process.

“Our skill base is unique in the oil and gas industry and is 100% transferrable into the marine renewables industry. Combine this with the Scottish Governments target for the production of 50% of electricity demand in Scotland to come from renewable sources by 2020, and a concerted drive from energy companies to look towards the renewables sector, it is increasingly important to diversify into this market. 

Driven by environmental division Xodus AURORA, the new marine renewable service will be led by Xodus’ principal environmental consultant Liz Foubister, who joined Xodus last year following the successful acquisition of Orkney based Aurora Environmental Ltd.  Driving the initiative from the groups Orkney base is strategically important as Orkney has increasingly become a true centre of excellence for the marine renewables industry.

Speaking about the new service, Liz Foubister said:

“By drawing on the wide ranging experience and skills across our company divisions we can marry the expertise of our environmental consultants and engineers to provide a truly unique and integrated service.

“Although this is a new initiative for Xodus, we have already had some fantastic success following the award of a contract to provide environmental support for Scottish Power Renewables. 
“We are also working with five of the developers creating sea-based technologies that will be tested at EMEC, the European Marine Energy Centre, and only last week AWS Ocean Energy Ltd, in Alness awarded us a contract for the detailed structural design of the full-scale prototype of the Archimedes Waveswing™ wave energy converter. This will be installed at the EMEC test site in Orkney in 2009, with the duration of the contract expected to last approximately eight months.

Adding to this, Colin Manson said: “This award from AWS is hugely important for Xodus Group.  It cements our unique position in offering an integrated, environmental and engineering solution to the marine renewables industry.

“This new venture is a demonstration of our commitment to the environment and ensures that Xodus is now able to bring an unparalleled and integrated approach to fill a gap in the market.”

Xodus, headquartered in Aberdeen, is a multi-discipline consultancy specialising in the independent delivery of consultancy services and production optimisation products that support the upstream oil and gas and marine renewables sector. With over 160 staff in the UK and Australia, Xodus Group comprises five divisions: Xodus Subsea, Xodus Oil & Gas, Xodus Technology, Xodus AURORA and Xodus Technical, Safety & Risk.

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