Two Scottish wind farms get the nod

Energy suppliers Baillie Wind Farm Ltd and Rothes II Ltd have been given the go-ahead to build two wind farms in Scotland that will supply around 45,000 homes with electricity.

As part of the £80 million scheme, the 52.5MW Baillie wind farm near Thurso will supply almost 25,000 homes and feed electricity into the upgraded Beauly-Denny line.

Meanwhile, an extension to the Rothes wind farm near Elgin will boost capacity by an additional 45MW, thereby increasing the generating capacity from 50 MW to 95 MW.

The scheme is expected to increase competition and allow consumers who may be looking to switch energy providers to choose between different companies based on prices.

Scotland's energy minister Jim Mather said the initiative will be good for the country's low carbon economy and demonstrates its commitment to using clean energy to tackle climate change.

"We are already on track to surpass our target of meeting 31 per cent of electricity demand from renewables by 2011 and a whole range of renewable technologies will play their part in achieving our target of 50 per cent by 2020," he said.