By Douglas Friedli

ANOTHER senior executive at Scottish Enterprise’s £450m ITI research project is understood to be on the verge of quitting after the organisation’s board refused to approve a key renewable energy project.

Nial McCollam, the chief executive of ITI Energy, is close to resigning after just 15 months in the job, according to sources close to the Aberdeen agency.

Sources claim ITI Energy has repeatedly tried and failed to get support for a £30m offshore wind energy project from ITI Scotland, the supervisory body which is chaired by the former lawyer Shonaig Macpherson.

ITI Energy is one of three Intermediary Technology Institutes set up by SE in 2003 to develop marketable inventions.

McCollam, who is well respected in the energy industry, took charge in early 2006 after founding chief executive Tony Amor quit unexpectedly. He had only been in the job for 18 months and, although he left for personal reasons, is understood to have become frustrated about interference in ITI Energy projects by SE.

The ITIs have been hit by a string of resignations, including founding chairman Gordon Campbell, who left in May 2005. He was followed by Amor and John Chiplin, the chief executive of ITI Life Sciences, in the same year, and Roger Dickinson, the chief executive of ITI Scotland, last year.

One source close to ITI Energy said: “Shonaig has been the issue ever since she took over as chairman. She is just not approving projects, and is stopping new projects coming forward.”

Another said: “What is really causing the problem is that Shonaig wants the ITIs to be intellectual property generators and become part of the overall SE system. This has undoubtedly been dictated from ‘SE Central’ and is a long, long way away from the original ITI concept.”

But an ITI Scotland spokeswoman insisted: “Under Shonaig Macpherson’s chairmanship, ITI Scotland can boast a range of achievements and a number of firsts, not least successful conclusion of our first research and development programme and the achievement of six licence deals, all of which are accruing benefit to Scotland in terms of both jobs and revenue.

“Most importantly, however, since Shonaig took over as chairman in May 2005, ITI Scotland has initiated a further 11 research and development programmes.”

ITI Energy wants to invest £15m, with an additional £15m of public cash, in its latest renewable energy project, which would involve floating wind and wave power generators moored off the Scottish coast.

But it has yet to be approved by ITI Scotland. Insiders fear constant delays could harm the project’s chances of success even if it is eventually approved.

One source claimed George Watkins, a member of the ITI Scotland board, was sceptical about renewable energy projects. Watkins was previously chairman of oil company Conoco in the UK. Greenpeace, the environmental pressure group, claims in that role he questioned science which appears to show that the increased use of fossil fuels was responsible for climate change.

Industry insiders are also concerned about the slowing flow of deals from ITI Energy – just one new project since Amor left in 2005.