Scotland's First Minister has called on the UK Government to "increase its ambitions" in developing offshore wind.

The UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change has said there was "huge potential" for future deployment in Scotland, but Nicola Sturgeon has said the future budget for offshore wind is "unlikely" to support the country's ambitions to develop an industry.

Under the UK Government's first Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction announced last Thursday, just one Scottish offshore wind farm received a contract, while two other major offshore wind farms were refused. Minister Sturgeon said this had left uncertainty over their future development.

She added that the UK Government must "act immediately" to provide confidence to the offshore wind industry.

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Speaking ahead of a visit to Whitelee wind farm, Scotland's largest onshore wind farm, the First Minister said: "Scotland has made huge progress in renewables deployment in Scotland, generating enough renewable energy to meet 44% of Scotland's annual electricity demand, generating millions of pounds of community benefit, and displacing an estimated 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide across the UK.

"The results of the UK Government's Contracts for Difference auction, announced last week, prove that renewables in Scotland are cost effective, with projects accounting for nearly half the allocated capacity but only an estimated one third of the cost.

"The results also show that Scottish onshore wind is now considerably cheaper than new nuclear; thanks to sustained support and large-scale deployment of projects such as Scottish Power's Whitelee development."

She continued: "It is essential that the UK Government provide confidence to the offshore wind industry that sufficient money will be available in future allocation rounds to allow the sector to move forward with assurance and enable costs to be further reduced.

"Without this ambition Scotland risks missing the opportunity to cement the growth of an industry, with significant supply chain benefits, while decarbonising our energy supply."

(JP/CD)