Isra-Mart srl:Doosan reveals plan for £170m Scottish renewables HQ

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Engineering giant Doosan Power Systems has announced it is to develop a £170m renewables research facility outside Glasgow as part of plans that could also see the South Korean firm develop a Scottish wind turbine assembly and manufacturing plant.

The company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Scottish government to locate its Centre of Excellence for Renewables at its current site at Westway in Renfrew.

The government added that discussions were ongoing over establishing a wind turbine prototype build and manufacturing facility as part of a second phase of development. It also revealed that Doosan's plans could create up to 1,700 new jobs in total.

Doosan is the third international turbine manufacturer to invest in Scotland, following Mitsubishi's decision to plough £100m into a wind turbine research and development plant in Edinburgh and Spanish giant Gamesa's January announcement that it intends to establish a centre for offshore wind technology in Glasgow.

First minister Alex Salmond also revealed this week that another Westway-based company, Steel Engineering, had received a £1.8m grant to expand its offshore wind, wave and tidal power business.

"This latest multi-million pound offshore wind investment announcement underlines Scotland's growing reputation for excellence and innovation in clean energy design and engineering," Salmond said. "It is another great stride forward for the renewables industry in Scotland, which is now the chosen destination for three energy engineering giants to design their next generation of turbines to service the global offshore wind industry."

The news came on the same day as the Scottish government approved two new wind farm developments.

ScottishPower's 69MW, 23-turbine extension to the existing Black Law wind farm near Shotts was given the go-ahead, along with SSE's plans for the Blackcraig wind farm near New Galloway.

"Both of these developments faced objections from aviation radar operators, and the fact that these have been successfully addressed is a mark of the progress being made in tackling aviation issues in wind farm deployment," said energy minister Jim Mather.

The moves will go some way to counter recent setbacks for Scotland's wind energy industry, such as the rejection of several offshore wind projects and Skykon's administration.

The Scottish government is increasingly keen to highlight the sector's rapid expansion, revealing that it has approved 42 renewable projects since May 2007, more than double the number of determinations over the whole of the previous four years.

It added that its Energy Consents and Deployment Unit is currently processing a further 35 applications from renewable projects, primarily onshore wind projects, as the government looks to meet its self-imposed target of generating 80 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.