Factory proposed for ex-oil terminal site on Cromarty Firth

Port of Nigg has been redeveloped as a facility serving the offshore renewables sector

A factory for manufacturing offshore wind turbine components could be built on part of a former oil terminal on the Cromarty Firth.

Global Energy has proposed the facility, which would be almost 17,000 sq metres (182,986 sq ft), for its Port of Nigg.

The Highland-based civil engineering company acquired the port, a former oil and gas fabrication yard, in 2011.

Plans for the factory are outlined in a proposal of application notice (PAN) submitted to Highland Council.

The factory would be an extension to existing renewable energy sector work done at Nigg.

Global Energy has operated the port since 2011

A former oil and gas fabrication yard at Ardersier is being redeveloped

Ardersier Port Ltd has also lodged a PAN for further work at another North Sea oil and gas yard in the Highlands.

The company has been redeveloping 450-acre (182ha) site at Ardersier on the Moray Firth.

Earlier this month, it was announced the port is to serve as an assembly and operations centre for the Aspen offshore wind farm, off the Aberdeenshire coast.

The PAN outlines proposals for further dredging of Ardersier Port's harbour and construction of a new quay.

Until recently the yard was one of the largest vacant industrial, or brownfield sites, in the UK.

In the 1970s it was used for the construction of offshore platforms for the then newly-established North Sea gas and oil industry.

At its height the yard employed about 4,500 people but it closed in 2001 as demand dropped.

Ardersier, along with Nigg, form parts of the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport.