More than £200m of contracts will be placed with businesses in Scotland for the development of the Clyde wind farm, it has been announced.

This includes an order in excess of £10m for Welcon Towers at Machrihanish to supply turbine towers.

First Minister Alex Salmond today observed preparatory works for the development, Europe's largest single consented wind farm, which is being developed near Abington by Scottish and Southern Energy.

The £500m Clyde wind farm development has consent to build 152 turbines which will be able to power over 200,000 homes, becoming the largest windfarm in Europe on completion.

Airtricity, the renewable development division of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), announced today that over £200m of the total £500m investment will be placed with businesses in Scotland. This includes plans for Siemens, the preferred turbine supplier, to place an order in excess of £10m for the manufacture and assembly of wind turbine towers at the recently announced Welcon Towers facility at Machrihanish, helping to secure 100 jobs at the yard.

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The visit to Clyde wind farm coincides with the start of the Scottish Renewables Festival which takes place on sites across the country this weekend marking Scotland's natural advantage in the development of clean, green energy.

The First Minister said: "The sheer scale of the Clyde wind farm reflects Scotland's ambition and ability to become the clean, green energy capital of Europe.

"The development of Europe's largest single consented on-shore wind farm in South Lanarkshire reinforces the Scottish Government's commitment to reduce harmful emissions while capitalising on the vast opportunities renewable energy presents."

Colin Hood, Chief Operating Officer for SSE, said: "Clyde is a nationally-important wind farm and I'm delighted that the First Minister is here today to see for himself the site and the pre-construction works we are now starting. We have major investment plans for renewable energy, and we hope that as many businesses as possible in Scotland will benefit from them."

Jesper Øhlenschlæger, CEO of Skykon A/S added: "Welcon Towers Ltd, a Skycon company, is really delighted to be the tower supplier for the Clyde project from its factory in Campbeltown and looks forward to seeing yet another step forward for renewable energy and sustainable economic development."

There is now almost 6 Gigawatts of renewables capacity installed, consented or under construction around Scotland. That takes it beyond the governments interim target of meeting 31% of Scotland's electricity demand from renewables by 2011.

(GK/JM)