Scotland gets go-ahead on Europe's biggest wind farm

South Lanarkshire in Scotland is to see the construction of Europe's biggest on shore wind farm, it has been confirmed.

South Lanarkshire in Scotland is to see the construction of Europe's biggest on shore wind farm, it has been confirmed.

The wind farm, which will consist of 152 wind turbines, will create 200 jobs during its construction, and has been in planning and development stages for some time.

However Scottish ministers approved the construction of the wind farm yesterday, which will begin construction in 2009, to be completed in 2011.

The wind farm will be maintained by Scottish and Southern Energy.

At a cost of £600 million, or just under £4 million per turbine, the completed farm, which will be built along the M72, will have a total capacity of 548 megawatts: enough to power 320,000 homes.

The announcement is the latest addition to Scotland's green credentials, which is aiming to be the world's leader in green power through innovative wave and wind power generation.

At present, Scotland is in talks with Northern Ireland and Ireland in order to secure a deal concerning a shared grid of green power, or energy created from Irish Sea wind farms and wave technology.