The planners behind Scotland's biggest offshore wind farm, which aims to create almost 700 jobs and transform a huge area off the east coast, are seeking the green light for the project.
Applications have been lodged for two farms within the Firth of Forth Wind Zone, which, despite its name, is mainly centred on an area off the Angus coast.
It will cover 1772 square miles in total and have a potential capacity of 3.5 gigawatts (GW), almost double Scotland's existing renewable capacity, if it gets the go-ahead from the Scottish Government and Marine Scotland, which manages the country's waters. The 700 jobs would be permanent.
Initially, Seagreen Wind Energy Ltd wants to build two windfarms of 75 turbines each, with a total capacity of 1050 megawatts (MW).
However, anti-wind farm protesters have already attacked the scheme, claiming the turbines will be hard to maintain and will only produce expensive electricity.
A spokeswoman for Communities Against Turbines (CAT) Scotland said: "Offshore turbines require an awful lot of maintenance due to the nature of their foundations and the salt water.
"The electricity from them will also be terribly expensive because of the subsidies involved, and this will obviously be passed on to customers."
She added: "The only good thing about these wind farms is that at least they're definitely offshore and will not affect communities."
Richard Escott, head of offshore development at SSE Renewables, one of the companies behind the bid, claimed the project is an important step towards the country's renewable energy targets.
He said: "Offshore wind is an outstanding resource which, when harnessed, will make a very significant contribution to meeting Scotland and the UK's renewable energy targets for 2020.
"This is an important milestone for the Seagreen consortium in developing the Firth of Forth Zone, Scotland's largest renewable energy project.
"We look forward to working with the relevant bodies to ensure a positive outcome for the application."
The two proposed windfarms by Seagreen, a joint venture between SSE Renewables and Texan firm Fluor Limited, are known as Project Alpha and Project Bravo and will be located 16 miles and 23 miles respectively off the Angus coastline.
The plans, which also include subsea cables, offshore substation platforms and meteorological masts, form phase one of the Wind Zone, which is part of the Crown Estate's UK Round Three Offshore Wind Development Programme.
The subsea cables will transmit the power produced by the turbines to a landfall point at Carnoustie. The onshore transmission connecting that power to the national grid will be the subject of a separate planning application to Angus Council next year.
Graham Mason, business development director of Renewables at Fluor, said: "We are delighted to see our Phase 1 offshore consent applications being submitted. This comes after a significant amount of environmental study and detailed consultation with all the relevant stakeholders.
"We believe that both of these offshore wind farms are fantastic projects which have the potential to have a lasting positive impact on the local economy."
A public consultation on the plans will be launched on Friday and run until December 7.
The applications follow a similar one in the outer Moray Firth for up to 339 turbines to be erected 13.5 miles from the Caithness coast.
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