Solar firm eyes Hyundai factory

The Hyundai factory has been empty since it was built in the 1990s

An American company is in advanced talks with the Scottish Government over buying a redundant factory in Fife.

California-based Zoom Diversified is interested in the former Hyundai plant in Dunfermline, which has lain empty since it was built in the 1990s.

The firm is understood to be planning to make domestic solar panels at the site, creating about 600 jobs.

Zoom is hoping to secure a research and development funding package which would secure the deal, sources said.

Talks, which have been ongoing since March, are thought to be at a delicate stage.

No formal announcement has been made by the company or the site's owner, Freescale.

Economic crisis

A spokeswoman for Freescale told the BBC Scotland news website: "Negotiations have been ongoing for quite a long time.

"The site currently has not been sold and ongoing negotiations are confidential so we are not going to comment on speculation."

The chairman of Fife Council's transport and enterprise committee, councillor Tony Martin, said: "I know that a company has been interested and has been speaking to the Scottish Government."

The site was built as part of a £3bn investment in Scotland by Hyundai, but an economic crisis in Korea prompted the company to pull out before production at the site began.

The company was expected to employ 2,000 people in Dunfermline.

Hopes were raised again in 2000 when Motorola announced that it was taking over the site, but an agreement was not reached.