Swedish power company Vattenfall has given the green light to the £300 million construction of Scotland’s largest offshore wind test and demonstration facility.

Vattenfall said its team and contractors will now focus on building the 11-turbine Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm project safely and “help establish the north-east as an international centre for offshore wind innovation”.

Onshore construction near Blackdog, Aberdeenshire, will start later this year and offshore work will begin in late 2017. The wind farm is scheduled to generate power in spring 2018 and operate for 20 years or more.

Vattenfall said it is now the sole owner of Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm Limited, the company behind the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC), after acquiring the Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group’s 25% share.

Gunnar Groebler, senior vice president and head of business area wind at Vattenfall, said: “Vattenfall, Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG), the Crown Estate, the Scottish Government and many others have been working since consent in 2013 to deliver the project and support the increasing competitiveness of the offshore wind sector.

“Now the Vattenfall team and our contractors will focus on building the project safely and help establish the north-east of Scotland as an international centre for offshore wind innovation.

“Vattenfall’s green light for the EOWDC underlines our long-term ambition to grow our wind power capacity, including in the UK.”

Paul Wheelhouse, Scottish minister for business, innovation and energy, said: “This is great news for the industry. Scotland is admired around the world for our work in renewable energy.

“This project will keep our nation at the forefront of innovation by allowing energy companies to identify new ways to reduce operating costs.

“We’re working hard to ensure offshore wind projects can help generate the low-carbon electricity supply Scotland needs and the associated high-quality engineering jobs Scotland wants.”