DONALD Trump has been accused of being totally ignorant of the benefits of wind power by a prominent north-east businessman.

Sir Maitland Mackie, of the Mackie's of Scotland ice-cream company and rector of Aberdeen University, said Mr Trump was "totally ignorant" of the realities of the benefits of wind turbines and "needs to be put back in his box".

His attack on the businessman is in a submission to tomorrow's meeting of Holyrood's Economy Energy and Tourism Committee. His comments follow Mr Trump's appearance before the committee last month when he said it would be "disastrous" if the Scottish Government pursued its policy and that it would "destroy" tourism.

Sir Maitland said: "We are at the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era. A fundamental reality is that dramatically rising energy costs will only stabilise when there is enough renewable energy coming on stream capable of filling the world's fast increasing gap between conventional energy supply and demand.

"The power produced from the wind can potentially save billions of barrels of oil or gas equivalent for its myriad of other essential uses."

However, Sir Donald Miller, former chairman of ScottishPower, warned that any variable energy source whose availability could not be accurately forecast and wind speeds were frequently wrong by as much as 50% even for an hour ahead were "a hazard to the security of the electricity supply".

First Minister Alex Salmond wants Scotland to produce the equivalent of 100% of Scotland's electricity needs by 2020 through renewables.

The UK's target is to generate one-third of its electricity through renewables by that time and Sir Donald warned that target would send bills rocketing by 38% which would mean a bill of £500 rising by £192.

In another submission to the committee, Consumer Focus Scotland says the costs of renewable energy investments are part of the reason for rising bills and the trend was expected to continue.