Sea turbines on stream by summer

E.ON is confident all the turbines will be installed this year at the Robin Rigg development off the coast of Dumfries and Galloway

Scotland's first offshore wind farm should be ready to start producing electricity by July.

About half of the 60 turbines at Robin Rigg, off the Cumbrian coast in the Solway Firth, have been erected so far.

Developers E.ON believe the £330m scheme will be completed by the end of the year but should be able to start production earlier than that.

The massive construction project has been hit by a number of delays putting it years behind schedule.

The original developers went bust and current owners E.ON have suffered delays caused by weather and contracts.

Crew rescued

There have also been two emergency operations during the construction process.

In September 2007 a group of 40 workers had to be rescued from a jack-up barge being used to install turbines after it started to list in strong winds.

Then in January this year dozens of crew members had to be taken to safety after another vessel broke three of the five wires anchoring it in position in the Solway Firth.

However, the process is now back on track and E.ON is confident of completion some time later this year.

Once it is fully operational Robin Rigg should provide enough energy to power 120,000 homes.