In conversation with Scott McInnes

26 June 2025

With a background in oil and gas and a focus on asset integrity, Scott McInnes leads WSP’s Quality Services team. This team is now evolving into WSP’s Energy Asset Management offering. Scott and his colleagues work across all areas of the energy sector, including nuclear, renewables and power distribution. Their role is to help infrastructure owners manage risk, maintain compliance and extend the life of critical assets.

What does good asset management look like in the energy sector?

It starts with the quality of data. Clean, reliable data allows us to make informed decisions and predict issues before they arise. We’re seeing real progress through the use of predictive analytics. For example, our work on Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGT) and nuclear portfolios across multiple UK stations has built up a rich database of asset condition and degradation information. We can now use that data to anticipate potential failures and ensure long-term compliance against reliability and integrity expectations.

How does quality management support asset integrity?

WSP is an ISO 17020 Type C Inspection Body, and we’ve been providing independent inspection services for over 40 years. That gives us a strong foundation in assurance and risk mitigation across the full lifecycle of a project.

We provide inspection, surveillance, asset integrity reviews, quality audits and technical management. Our surveillance engineers are supported by a team of subject matter experts, allowing us to spot issues early and deliver a consistent, trusted service. Our ISO accreditation reinforces our position as credible, experienced partners to asset owners.

Scott McInnes

Digital Energy Lead, Water, Energy, Earth & Environment

United Kingdom

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What are the biggest challenges for asset owners today?

One of the biggest challenges is aging infrastructure. As assets near the end of their design life, the risk of degradation increases impacting reliability and integrity of equipment. This becomes particularly apparent during outages. Inspection scopes are expanding each year to mitigate emerging issues.

Another significant challenge we face across our industries is the skills gap. Many experienced and qualified people are retiring, and we are diligently working on attracting new talent to expand our team. That’s a concern across the energy sector in general and one we’re actively addressing by investing in training and development.

What role does digital innovation play in managing energy assets?

It’s becoming absolutely essential. Digital tools such as Microsoft Copilot allow us to analyse large volumes of data, detect early signs of degradation and make smarter decisions.

We’re working with partners like Imrandd, who apply satellite and remote sensing technologies originally developed for offshore environments. These tools can detect moisture, corrosion and heat signatures, allowing us to provide technical counsel to our clients before problems occur and allow them to make informed decisions. It’s all about mitigating asset degradation, especially in high-integrity sectors like nuclear.

How is asset management evolving as the industry moves toward net zero?

The push for net zero is increasing the demand on existing assets. The world wants power that is affordable, reliable and safe. That means we need to extend the life of critical infrastructure while maintaining high safety and compliance standards.

In nuclear especially, late-life asset management is essential. We are supporting safety cases every year to ensure continued safe operation. This kind of scrutiny is becoming more important as assets age and the energy system changes.

Safety and compliance are always the top priorities – nowhere more so than in the nuclear sector. The consequences of failure in nuclear are so high that we can never compromise. We support nuclear clients in the UK, Canada, Finland and the US with inspections, quality assurance and management, failure investigations and knowledge sharing. We are proud of the trust we’ve earned, and we know that trust depends on the quality of our work every single time.

What is WSP’s role in supporting the UK’s nuclear sector today, and how is that changing?

Nuclear currently provides around 14 to 15 percent of the UK’s electricity, but that contribution is set to decline as many of our existing reactors approach the end of their operational life. Maintaining the integrity and reliability of the nine active nuclear plants is critical while we await new capacity, such as Sizewell C, which won’t come online until the mid-2030s.

This summer, WSP is supporting routine maintenance activities across four nuclear facilities in the UK, helping to ensure continued safe operation during this period of transition. We’re also actively supporting decommissioning at sites such as Dungeness, where we provide quality surveillance and inspection for the dismantling of non-operational assets. Safe decommissioning is not only essential for public and environmental safety, it also supports a circular economy by preparing land for reuse and linking into long-term waste storage solutions, including work led by Nuclear Waste Services.

Digital innovation is playing a bigger role in all of this. We’re exploring machine learning and AI to better understand asset performance, improve inspection efficiency and manage vast amounts of condition data across multiple sites. These technologies are particularly valuable as sites move toward late-life operations, where predictive insights can help maintain safety and compliance.

Nuclear is a core part of the UK’s clean power ambitions, with targets suggesting it could supply around 25 percent of our electricity by 2050. Our role is to ensure that both the legacy fleet and future assets are safe, resilient and ready to power the next generation.

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