More than 950 offshore wind turbines are to be created in the Moray Firth and Firth of Forth through rights which have been granted by the Crown Estates.

The turbines will see an additional 4.7 giga watts (GW) of clean electricity - enough to power over three million homes - feeding into the UK grid.

Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy said: "Scotland is the windiest country in Europe, and this shows we're creating the right conditions for the energy industry to invest in harnessing it.

"This is one of the strongest signals yet that Scotland is right at the heart of the UK's commitment to a low carbon, energy secure, prosperous future.

"But it's also great news for the manufacturing industry and supply chain in Scotland."

The Crown Estate is the owner of the UK's coastal seabeds and has granted the rights to energy firms to develop the sites on behalf of the UK Government.

It is the third round of grants from the Crown Estate and will see the creation of high-value jobs in manufacturing, research and engineering, installation, operation and services.

The Moray Firth zone will be developed by a partnership involving EDP Renewables and SeaEnergy. The Firth of Forth of zone will be developed by a partnership involving SeaGreen Wind Energy and Airtricity, as well as Fluor.

About 3.2 million homes could be powered by 4.7GW of electricity, according to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The Scottish rights are among nine being granted today across the UK.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "Our policies in support of offshore wind energy have already put us ahead of every other country in the world.

"This new round of licences provides a substantial new platform for investing in UK industrial capacity.

"The offshore wind industry is at the heart of the UK economy's shift to low carbon, potentially worth £75 billion and support up to 70,000 clean energy jobs by 2020."

A £1.5m grant has also been agreed for Fife firm Burntisland Fabrications to support supply chain.

Ian Scrimger, the firm's business development manager, said: "This is a great opportunity for the UK manufacturing industry and the supply chain creating thousands of jobs."

Mr Murphy added: "We understand that the supply chain has to be supported in order to be able to capitalise on this expansion and we are demonstrating that today by awarding grants to several leading players including Burntisland Fabrications."