Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond has confirmed that the construction jobs set to be created as work begins on an ambitious wind farm in South Lanarkshire will stay in the region. Under the terms of the new £600 million scheme, Scottish and Southern Energy is to build and operate what will be Europe's largest onshore wind farm just outside of Clyde.
It will feature 152 turbines and will be capable of generating enough green energy to power 320,000 homes. In addition to cutting back on carbon emissions and reducing the nation's dependence on overseas energy supplies, Mr Salmond has confirmed that the project will lead to the creation of hundreds of construction jobs in Scotland.
"The Clyde wind farm will direct more than £200m of investment to businesses in Scotland," he said on the back of a tour of the Clyde site. "Scotland's potential for renewables is up to 60GW - more than 10 times our peak demand."
Already, the £10 million contract for the construction of the turbine towers for the site has been awarded to a firm based in nearby Machrihanish, with up to 200 construction jobs in Scotland expected to be announced over the next few months. At the same time, Dudgeon Offshore Wind has applied for planning permission for a proposed 168-turbine wind farm off the coast of Cromer, the Eastern Daily Press has reported.
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