First Minister (FM) Nicola Sturgeon is to visit a new large-scale renewables development in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth.

The MeyGen project is the world's first large-scale tidal stream farm and is owned by Atlantis Resources

The FM will see the first turbines for the planned tidal stream array during a trip to Nigg Energy Park in the Highlands today, 12 September.

The Scottish Government has provided £23 million of funding towards the project, which will allow its first phase to be developed. Overall, the MeyGen and Sound of Islay projects are expected to generate around £275m for the country's economy.

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Mrs Sturgeon said: "MeyGen is set to invigorate the marine renewables industry in Scotland and provide vital jobs for a skilled workforce, retaining valuable offshore expertise here in Scotland that would otherwise be lost overseas. Highly skilled operation and maintenance jobs will also need to be carried out locally, providing strong local employment opportunity for rural areas.

"There is no doubt that the eyes of the world are on this project which is why the Scottish Government's investment is so crucially important."

The FM also called on the UK Government to end the uncertainty surrounding financial support for marine energy.

"It is absolutely vital that the UK Government honours its earlier commitment to provide a ring-fenced allocation for marine energy in its renewables support scheme," she said.

"They must tackle the current uncertainty that exists before they cause irreparable damage to the long term prospects for the sector."

(LM/CD)