Vattenfall has agreed to invest over £300 million in a wind farm project off the coast of Aberdeen.

The Swedish power company's decision means it will acquire the Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group's (AREG) 25% share of the scheme and become the full owner of Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm Ltd.

The 11-turbine European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) will have a capacity of 92.4MW.

Onshore construction near Blackdog will start later this year and is to be completed late next year. Offshore works will then begin in Aberdeen Bay in late 2017, with operations scheduled to get underway in 2018.

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Gunnar Groebler, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Wind at Vattenfall, said: "Vattenfall's green light for the EOWDC underlines our long term ambition to grow our wind power capacity, including in the UK. The UK Government believes that wind power should continue to provide an essential part of the UK's low carbon electricity generation mix and so we remain committed to expanding our UK operations."

Chair of AREG and Aberdeen City Councillor, Jean Morrison, said: "This is a big day for the north east of Scotland's energy industry. The EOWDC is an important element in the strategy to diversify our energy industry, access new international markets, reduce the cost of offshore wind and create and safeguard jobs."

Scottish Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse added: "This project will keep our nation at the forefront of innovation by allowing energy companies to identify new ways to reduce operating costs.

"We're working hard to ensure offshore wind projects can help generate the low carbon electricity supply Scotland needs and the associated high quality engineering jobs Scotland wants."

(LM/MH)