EDINBURGH, Scotland, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- The Scottish government unveiled a $54.5 million fund to support production of new offshore wind technology in the country.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, in August, discussed plans with developers to build as much as 1,500 megawatts of new offshore wind energy projects.
Edinburgh aims to have 100 percent of its electricity demand met through renewable energy by 2020. The country used renewable energy to meet 27 percent of its demand in 2009.
Salmond, during an investment conference in Edinburgh, said Scotland was determined to lead the way in the development of new technology for renewable energy.
"As developers and investors look across this global market for certainty and for leadership from government, they can look to Scotland to provide those things," he said in a statement.
Billionaire U.S. businessman Donald Trump, in a letter to Salmond, claimed the country's wind energy ambitions would hurt tourism.
"People do not want to travel from all over the world to go to Scotland in order to stare out at big, ugly structures," the letter, as published by The Guardian newspaper in London, read. "Trust me, they will go somewhere else."
Trump plans to develop a luxury golf resort near the Scottish coast.
