Ambitions to get the UK’s largest offshore wind tower factory up and running in Scotland as soon as next year are in doubt after the exit from the project of its key Spanish partner.

Plans for the facility at the Port of Nigg – formerly a major oil & gas manufacturing hub – were hailed by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as “a significant investment in Scotland’s energy sector” as recently as last December when a £110m ($145m) finance package was unveiled to create a state-of-the art tower production site to serve the impending Scottish and UK offshore wind boom.