The wind energy industry was celebrating today after it was revealed that plans for the UK's largest offshore and on shore wind farms are both set to proceed.

Doubts had emerged surrounding both projects after oil giant Shell announced earlier this year that it was planning to sell its stake in the giant London Array offshore project and repeated delays to the planning process hampered the proposed Clyde onshore wind farm in Scotland.

However, energy giant E.ON today announced that it had reached an agreement with Danish utility Dong Energy to buy out Shell's stake in the London Array for an undisclosed sum. E.ON and Dong, which had previously held stakes of a third each in the project, will now become 50:50 partners in the development.

Shell had claimed that rising raw material costs meant that alternative wind farm developments in the US now represented a more attractive investment proposition for the company.

However, a spokeswoman for E.ON insisted it was confident that the project would prove a success. "There is no doubt that offshore wind farms are very expensive, but we are positive that this is a fantastic and important development," she said. "We have now secured the future of this project and are on track to complete the first phase on schedule by 2012."

The first phase will see 630MW of wind energy come on line, while the second phase, scheduled to be completed by 2014, would result in the finished wind farm providing around 1,000MW of energy to the South East.

The spokeswoman added that E.ON and Dong were now in talks with suppliers and manufacturers to find the most cost effective means of proceeding with the project.

A spokesman for the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) welcomed the news, but insisted that it had always been likely that the project would proceed without Shell. "It's very much a case of we told you so," he said. "Shell simply reassessed its priorities when the various project tender documents came in and the consortium was always going to regroup."

In related news, the Scottish Minister Alex Salmond today granted approval Scottish and Southern Energy's (SSE) plans for the 152 turbine Clyde wind farm development, bringing to an end a five year saga that has seen the project subject to repeated planning delays. The £600m project, which became part of SSE's portfolio when it acquired Airtricity earlier this year, is now scheduled for completion by 2011.

Ian Marchant, chief executive of SSE, praised the decision, claiming it provided evidence of the Scottish government's commitment to renewable energy. "Scottish Ministers aim to make Scotland the green energy capital of Europe, and giving the Clyde wind farm consent is evidence of a willingness to take decisions which are consistent with that ambition," he said.