AN energy company has been given the go-ahead for plans to develop Scotland's first offshore wind turbine testing site.
SSE Renewables, the renewable energy arm of SSE, received consent from North Ayrshire Council to build the facility at Hunterston, 10 months after it first announced the plans.
Up to three prototype turbines will be tested for five years at the site, part of the Glasgow-based Centre of Engineering Excellence for Renewable Energy.
It is hoped the facility will determine the reliability of offshore turbines before the next generation of major developments are installed around Scotland.
The project is expected to be up and running early next year.
Jim Smith, managing director of SSE Renewables, said: "This project will represent an important project for the wider offshore wind industry; by providing a test facility it will allow manufacturers to demonstrate the reliability of the next generation of longer capacity turbines ahead of deployment.
"Work to address the conditions associated with the consent will now take place. We will be engaging with communities ahead of the construction phase when we hope to build on the good community relations we have established."
Scotland has set a target of generating the equivalent of 100% of our electricity needs from renewables by 2020. At the end of the year, the Scottish Government said lease agreements had been secured for wind projects in Scotland with potential capacity of up to 10 gigawatts by 2020.
Ministers estimate that Scottish waters could hold a quarter of Europe's potential offshore wind energy, although the developments have attracted controversy, with Donald Trump objecting to plans for a massive development near his golf resort in Aberdeenshire.
He wrote to First Minister Alex Salmond last week warning him against allowing the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre, saying: "You will have done more damage to Scotland than virtually any event in Scottish history."
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