TEMPORARY power and cooling supplier Aggreko is mulling a move into providing renewable energy technology as part of its offering.

Chairman Ken Hanna confirmed the subject has already been discussed by executives at board meetings.

Mr Hanna indicated areas such as solar power and battery storage were of particular interest at the moment.

While any move into the renewable sector is likely to take place over the long term Mr Hanna told shareholders at the company's recent annual general meeting in Glasgow the business was aware of the market and said: "We will be keeping a close eye on it."

That view was echoed by chief executive Chris Weston who said: "We are looking at all sorts of renewable technology and how we might be able to integrate that into our solution.

"I suspect it won't be a material aspect of our offering but it could well be part of our offering going forward. We have yet to conclude on that."

Mr Weston pointed out Aggreko already provides generators to a wide range of renewable projects including wind farms and hydro schemes.

He said: "We are already in renewable to some extent we have just not yet deployed that [type of] technology. It will be a few years I think."

Asked whether it was likely that Aggreko would look to acquire a renewable business Mr Weston said: "I wouldn't read that into it at all. Aggreko are pretty good at developing things organically."

Mr Weston, who started in the role in January as the permanent successor to Rupert Soames, praised the "engaged and passionate" staff he has met while travelling to Aggreko's sites around the world in recent months including visits to the likes of Mozambique, Russia and Panama.

The former Centrica executive said he had been "extremely impressed" by the Aggreko engineering hub in Dumbarton which produces generators.

He said: "Before I joined Aggreko I had no idea of the extent of capability we had up here.

"That facility - you take an engine and all the other bits in at one end and out comes a containerised solution at the other end that we sell all over the world - is absolutely fantastic."

Mr Weston is due to give an update on his plans for the company in August alongside interim results.

He has previously indicated part of that will involve looking to improve the efficiency of its engines along with turning more of its fleet to run on the more cost effective heavy fuel oil.

Speaking after the AGM he said: "I think the engineering expertise we have in Dumbarton we will look to build upon and probably do more work evaluating different products in the market rather than pure research and development.

"Whether it leads to more jobs in the area I don't know yet. It is too early to say."

Earlier this year Aggreko announced its pre-tax profits for 2014 had fallen 13 per cent from £333m to £289m on revenue of £1.58bn.

The company said there had been problems in its Asia Pacific division related to the slowing of the Australian mining industry.

Mr Weston said in March Aggreko had made a good start to the year with contract extensions in Argentina, the Ivory Coast and Japan and secured contracts to provide power to the inaugural European Games and PanAmerican Games.