Senergy makes a break for expanding Middle East renewables

Published Date: 20 June 2009
By PETER RANSCOMBE

SCOTLAND can learn from Middle East renewable energy projects, according to the head of a fast-growing energy firm.
James McCallum, the chief executive and founder of the Aberdeen-based energy services firm Senergy, said he wanted to bring back knowledge and experience from the United Arab Emirates to help develop Scotland's renewable energy sector.McCallum recently moved to Abu Dhabi to expand Senergy's work in the Middle East, building on the firm's experience in the North Sea oil and gas sector.First Minister Alex Salmond yesterday opened Senergy's new office in Edinburgh, from where the firm will train clients.Senergy, which employs about 400 staff, said it wanted to expand its work in the renewables sector, which accounts for about 3 per cent of the company's £70 million turnover.The firm said it aims to double its turnover in the next three years and wants 40 per cent of its revenues to come from the renewable energy sector by 2013.McCallum told The Scotsman: "In ten years' time, it's impossible to imagine Senergy being successful and still based solely in the North Sea. We need to be in the Middle East market."But the other thing that's exciting about being in the Middle East is that, ironically for the lowest-cost producing region in the world in terms of fossil fuels, in cities like Abu Dhabi, you're seeing an awareness of the need for balanced energy."They're taking a more enlightened approach to what they can do. So they're investing in solar power and also looking at wind and carbon capture."