Work to start on green fuel plant

Balcas said the plant will provide work for 38 full-time staff

Work to build a £24m plant for the manufacture of wood pellets in Easter Ross is due to get under way.

Northern Irish company Balcas said it will make 100,000 tonnes of the pellets a year using sawdust and wood fibre - enough to heat 20,000 homes annually.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) will invest £5.5m in the plant on the former Alcan smelter site at the Cromarty Industrial Park, Invergordon.

The green energy plant was approved by Highland councillors last year.

It was expected 38 full-time jobs at the plant and work for a further 307 indirectly will be created.