The Scottish Executive has approved the construction of a large offshore wind farm in the North Sea, in Aberdeen Bay, sparking a furious reaction from developer Donald Trump, whose recently-opened golf resort is near the proposed wind farm site.

The European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre proposal consists of 11 wind turbines and their connecting cables, sited between 2-4.5 km off the Aberdeenshire coast. The project, which is designed to allow wind developers to test new technologies in an offshore environment before commercial deployment, will be capable of generations up to 100 MW of electricity, enough to power almost 50,000 homes.

In a statement issued shortly after the Executive decision was announced, Trump confirmed his intention to halt all further development of the resort unless the wind farm was stopped. “We will put our future plans in Aberdeen on hold, as will many others, until this ridiculous proposal is defeated,” Trump's statement said. “Likewise, we will be bringing a lawsuit within the allocated period of time to stop what will definitely be the destruction of Aberdeen and Scotland itself. We will spend whatever monies are necessary to see to it that these huge and unsightly industrial wind turbines are never constructed.”

The wind farm project also includes a substation on land at Blackdog, between Trump's property and Murcar Links. Planning consent for this has not yet been granted and lies in the remit of Aberdeenshire Council.