Samsung to Base Offshore Scotland Wind Project in Fife, Create 500 Jobs

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. will base its first European 100 million-pound ($158 million) offshore wind project in Scotland, creating more than 500 jobs in the country.

Samsung Heavy, the world’s second-largest shipbuilder, will build its new seven-megawatt offshore wind turbine at the Fife Energy Park in Methil, the Scottish government said in an e- mailed statement today. Clyde Blowers Plc (CBW)’s David Brown Gear Systems will co-locate a gearbox assembly plant at Methil.

Samsung’s “choice of Scotland is testament to the fact this country is fast becoming the European center for research and development in new offshore wind technologies,” Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said in the statement.

Salmond’s ruling Scottish National Party wants Scotland to generate all its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The country is the windiest country in Europe, according to the Glasgow-based ScottishPower Renewable Energy Group.

Billionaire Donald Trump is fighting plans to build 11 offshore wind turbines, each 640-feet (195 meters) high, in Aberdeen Bay in view of a golf course he is constructing north of Aberdeen.

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Woodifield in Edinburgh at pwoodifield@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rodney Jefferson at r.jefferson@bloomberg.net