It is the first major wind project approved by the new government and will provide enough energy for approximately 120,000 homes.

Construction is scheduled to start in spring 2008 and the windfarm alone is understood to save carbon dioxide emissions of almost 500,000 tonnes a year.

A spokesman from ScottishPower told B&E that he hopes the project will pave the way for more onshore wind farms in the near future.

He said: “We obviously hope that will be the case and we are delighted at what we think is an excellent project has been given the green light by the new government. We believe that onshore wind farms will play a vital role in reaching the UK’s renewables targets.” 

The development went through a public inquiry because there had been concerns raised by the local authority, but a quarter of that inquiry found in favour of the new developments.

It will be ScottishPower’s third largest windfarm project, following the one in Black Law and Glasgow’s Whitelee, which will be the largest in Europe once the site is fully commissioned in 2009.