Scotland is set to become home to Europe's most northerly solar farm.

Despite the country often lacking in the warm, yellow stuff, an abandoned airfield in the Highlands has been earmarked for a 50 megawatt (MW) project that could power 15,000 homes or 19,000 electric cars for a year.

Ministers have given approval for the farm in Elgin, Moray, which will be almost four times bigger than the 13MW Errol solar farm in Perth, currently the largest of its kind in Scotland.

Details of the project have been disclosed by developers Elgin Energy after it became the first solar farm to win approval from the Scottish Government's energy consents unit, which rules on large-scale projects.

It is estimated that the site, former RAF base Milltown airfield, could fit as many as 300,000 solar panels and generate revenue of more than £40,000 a day.

The Tennant family, which owns the site, as well as Innes House, said some of the profits will be reinvested into maintaining the historic house.

Edward Tennant said: "This is an exciting new chapter. The need for renewable energy is becoming increasingly important and we are very happy to be contributing to the green future of Scotland."

Ronan Kilduff, the managing director of Elgin Energy, said work on the Milltown farm was expected to start "in the early 2020s".

Data published by the Met Office shows that the north of Scotland saw 158.8 hours of sunshine last month, the highest recorded in the UK.