Swedish group trumps Trump with UK offshore wind farm near his golf resort
A wind farm, which had been opposed by controversial US presidential candidate Donald Trump, got given the go-ahead today.
Swedish energy firm Vattenfall confirmed it will invest £300m in the 11-turbine wind farm off the coast of Aberdeen. It will take 100 per cent ownership of the project, having bought Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group's 25 per cent stake for an undisclosed sum.
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"The decision to invest … comes only a few weeks after the British referendum on leaving the European Union and demonstrates Vattenfall's continuing long-term commitment to wind power in Great Britain," the company said in a statement.
The European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) is due to start generating its first power in 2018.
Trump had previously voiced fears that the renewable energy project would ruin the view from his multi-million pound golf course on the nearby Menie estate.
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In December, the UK supreme court threw out his legal challenge over the Scottish government’s decision to grant planning permission to the facility.
At the time, the Trump organisation issued a stinging statement, saying: “The EOWDC will completely destroy the bucolic Aberdeen Bay and cast a terrible shadow upon the future of tourism for the area”
“History will judge those involved unfavourably and the outcome demonstrates the foolish, small-minded and parochial mentality which dominates the current Scottish government’s dangerous experiment with wind energy.”