Responding to the announcement from Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing MSP, that two offshore wind farm projects in the Moray Firth have been given consent today,

Lindsay Leask, Senior Policy Manager for Scottish Renewables, said:

"We are delighted to finally see the first ever consent being granted for a large scale commercial offshore wind farm in Scotland.

"This is a really important step forward for the industry, which has the potential to generate massive amounts of renewable power and support significant numbers of new jobs."

She added: "The big focus now moves on to whether or not these projects can access a Contract for Difference - the new support mechanism for nuclear, renewables and carbon capture and storage - which the backers of the projects need to finalise their investments."