The planned turbines would see an additional 4.7 giga watts (GW) of clean electricity feeding into the national grid — enough to power more than three million homes.

With Fife Energy Park in Methil ideally placed to take advantage of the opportunities arising offshore, it is thought that today’s announcement could spark massive interest in Fife’s renewable energy sector and create hundreds of jobs.

The news came on the day that a new report highlighted Fife’s commitment to investing nearly £400 million in renewable energy projects between now and 2013.

It is thought around 2000 green jobs could be created in Fife by 2020.

Fife Council leader Peter Grant said the investment would help Scotland reduce carbon emissions by 42% and generating 20% of energy from renewable sources by the end of the decade.

“Fife Council is working hard to become the leading green council in Scotland,” he said.

“We’re also seeing green energy initiatives being led by many of our major employers. We believe that by 2013 Fife will be in the enviable position of producing enough green energy to power every one of the Kingdom’s 169,010 homes.”

Today’s news from the Crown Estate will see the creation of high-value jobs in manufacturing, research and engineering, installation, operation and services.

The Firth of Forth zone will be developed by a partnership involving SeaGreen Wind Energy, Airtricity andFluor.

One of the local companies set to benefit is Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab), which will get a £1.5m grant to support the supply chain.

BiFab has quickly become one of the leading suppliers of support structures for offshore wind turbines in Europe.

Ian Scrimger, BiFab’s business development manager, said, “This is a great opportunity for the UK manufacturing industry to create thousands of jobs.”

First Minister Alex Salmond hailed the announcement as a significant step forward for the renewables industry.

“This is excellent news for Scotland, our economy and environment and gives the green light for a massive multi-billion pound expansion of offshore wind electricity generation,” he said.

An estimated 3.2 million homes could be powered by the electricity produced by the proposed windfarms, according to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown also welcomed the announcement, which is expected to give Fife’s renewable energy companies a massive boost.

“Our policies in support of offshore wind energy have already put us ahead of every other country in the world,” he said.

“The offshore wind industry is at the heart of the UK economy’s shift to low carbon, potentially worth £75 billion and up to 70,000 clean energy jobs by 2020.”