A MAJOR step forward has been taken in a bid to create an offshore windfarm visible from East Lothian.

The first turbine blades for the Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) development have arrived in the port of Dundee.

NnG is under construction 15 kilometres off the Fife coastline and 30km north of Torness.

The windfarm will come on shore at Thorntonloch beach, to the south-east of Dunbar, before two buried cables will cross farmland for about 12 kilometres to the grid connection point at Crystal Rig windfarm in the Lammermuir Hills.

East Lothian Courier: An important step forward has been taken in the plans for an offshore windfarmAn important step forward has been taken in the plans for an offshore windfarm

The offshore windfarm consists of 54 turbine towers which will be assembled in Dundee before being placed alongside turbine blades on a specialist wind turbine installation vessel which will transport them to, and install them, at the site of the offshore windfarm.

The first turbines will be operational in time for the windfarm to begin generating power next year, with completion scheduled for 2024.

NnG, jointly owned by EDF Renewables and ESB, will have a capacity of about 450 MegaWatts (MW).