Scottish energy consultancy heads for Texas with new subsidiary

Partrac, a Scottish-origin marine consultancy has chosen Houston, Texas as the launch-site for its new US subsidiary. The Texan wing – Partrac GeoMarine – offers clients the full range of consulting services provided by its Glasgow-headquartered parent company.

Partrac secured its renewable credentials when it partnered with the Scottish government and Norwegian energy company Statoil to launch the world’s first floating wind farm in the North Sea. Blue-chip clients Partrac has worked for include EDF Energy Renewables, Eon, and dredging specialist DEME. While Partac primarily developed its offshore expertise in British and European coastal waters, however, the firm feels it will be well suited to life in the US – the world’s largest and most mature consulting industry.

The formal announcement of the firm’s new venture was made during the Offshore Technology Conference held in Texas’ most populous city in May 2018. Although Partrac GeoMarine will bring its consulting expertise and technological nous to the conventional oil and gas sector, the Houston office’s primary focus will be on wind, wave and tidal energy.

Houston suffered from a recent downturn in Texas’ famous oil industry, as well as from the severe $125 billion impact of Hurricane Harvey, which ravaged the Texas Gulf last summer. However, the city has recovered strongly, and today the Houston metropolitan area is home to a growing number of renewable giants, including Sunnova and Pattern Energy, as the US energy sector looks to diversify for a future where fossil fuels look to be less in demand, while hundreds of solar companies also have a presence in the city.

According to Partrac Co-Founder Sam Athey, Houston is the ideal US hub for Partrac GeoMarine. He elaborated, “We wanted a city with a highly skilled workforce that reflects the wide range of market sectors that Partrac operates in and is within easy reach of both the Gulf and East coasts of the United States.”

Partrac has a number of unique technologies that we want to bring to the US to help solve some of the problems and answer some of the questions. “We see these as having the biggest growth potential for our services and products,” Athey added.