$1.5 billion eyed for Scottish wind energy

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EDINBURGH, Scotland, March 9 (UPI) -- A Scottish company announced plans to build 10 wind farms in the region as part of a $1.5 billion investment in the wind energy sector.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond announced Burcote Wind has plans to produce some 800 megawatts of electricity through its investments in the country's wind energy sector.

"While each project will be subject to the appropriate planning processes, this proposed investment underlines yet again how our natural resources are creating new, green jobs and putting Scotland at the forefront of the renewables revolution," he said in a statement.

Scotland set a target of using renewable energy to meet 100 percent of its electricity needs by 2020.

The British government announced this week that Edinburgh would serve as the headquarters of the planned Green Investment Bank. The bank would serve to encourage more private investments in the clean energy sector.

Edinburgh said the United Kingdom would need its clean energy expertise if it has any chance of reaching its own green ambitions.

"Scotland's renewable energy sector is estimated to have secured a record-breaking $1.1 billion of investment in the year to October 2011, with a pipeline of proposed projects with 17 gigawatts of generating capacity, worth an estimated capital investment of $73 billion," added Salmond.