The group hopes the promise of new jobs will offset opposition from environmentalists.

While the turbines will be imported, Amec anticipates the towers that support them will be constructed by locals who still have steel-working skills learned when the Atlantic island off Scotland's west coast constructed oil rig components in the 1980s and 90s.

Over 300 jobs will be created in the four years it will take to erect the turbines.

The application follows one by Amec last week for a 100-turbine wind farm in the Kyle forest, southeast Scotland.

Amec, which has teamed up with British Energy for the project, says it will help Britain achieve about 6 percent of its targets for renewable energy to help combat climate change.

But benefits for the global environment could come at the expense of the local ecology.

"It is absolutely crucial to get the general support of the islanders," said Hodkinson. "It is vital for any wind farm project, but on an island it is even more important."

Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is against the project.

"It would appear that Amec and British Energy have chosen to ignore our consistent advice," it said in a statement.

"On the face of it, their proposed wind farm is of a scale and in a location where the damage it will do will harm this important area, legally protected for its important birds and rare peatland habitat," it added.

Hodkinson said Amec had conducted Europe's largest-ever bird survey to help it minimise damage.

"There are Golden Eagles there, Merlins, divers and wading birds," he said. "We're working hard to minimise impact. There's great uncertainty about the collision risk, but that's something the industry will have to face."