Red carpet for £100m green centre

ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners have welcomed plans by Japanese engineering giant Mitsubishi for a £100 million green energy centre in the Lothians.

The engineering facility will carry out research and development into offshore wind turbine technology.

Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "Scotland's amazing potential for renewable energy will only be realised with investment in technologies.

"This investment is a good step towards Scotland realising the goal of delivering 100 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources.

"This investment shows how important it is for Scotland's government to not be distracted from promoting renewable energy by the nay-sayers.

"It is critical that the energy market reforms to be floated by the Westminster government next week work to maintain confidence in the renewables sector for such investors."