:: Partnership-based future puts Wavegen on the crest of the wave       03/05/04

The new man taking the helm at Inverness-based wave energy market leader, Wavegen can point to a long track record of support for renewable energy, having campaigned for a commercial wind farm in Lewis 20 years ago.

Well-travelled and commercially astute, Jimmy Ferguson (43), the new Managing Director of Wavegen, wants to refocus the efforts of the company which has been the driving force behind the UK’s first commercial wave power station - turning research and development into a saleable reality.

“Up until now, Wavegen has been a company focussed on research and development,” explains Stornoway-born Ferguson.

“The wave energy industry has now got to move forward and evolve by starting to deliver products which will win commercial buy-in from the power and utility companies.

“Power from the waves and tides has to be commercially attractive. There are fantastic opportunities ahead, and Wavegen, despite being quite a young company, is already at the front end of technology development.

We now need to support and fine tune our proven expertise and work as an industry to drive the market for wave energy forward.”

Ferguson takes over from George Lane who has been interim Managing Director since January 2003.

George Lane, now Wavegen Chairman, welcomed Mr Ferguson’s appointment, saying: “Jimmy has long supported renewable energy and this enthusiasm, combined with exceptional engineering and business experience, made him the perfect man for the job.”

Ferguson’s civil engineering-based background brings an eclectic and distinguished mix of project management, business development and engineering to the Wavegen post.

A graduate in Civil Engineering from the University of Paisley, he studied Metallurgy and Welding Technology at Cranfield and gained an MBA from The Robert Gordon University.

Starting work as a graduate trainee with Wimpey, his career has taken him around the world, and along the cutting edge of offshore technology and design, working with Lewis Offshore, Heerema, Brown & Root, AMEC, BARMAC and KBR/Halliburton.

The move back into his early passion for renewable energy began with his work on the Scroby Sands Offshore Wind Farm in Norfolk.

Ferguson also sees partnership working with the education sector as crucial to the ongoing development of wave power projects – and getting the right type of graduates into such a specialised area.

“There is a shortage of technical specialists who understand the work we do,” he explains.

“We are dependant on working and developing technology with the education sector as well as the rest of the industry – and that’s why we have recently made our wavetank facilities available so a wider cross-section of marine-based expertise can benefit from our state-of-the-art facilities.

Jimmy Ferguson, who lives in Nairn with his wife Corinne and three children, took up his post as Managing Director of Wavegen on Monday 3 May.

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