Ice cream boss Mackie named windmills on his farm after ex-girlfriends

Windmills: Dr Mackie said he named the machines after former girlfriends.

An ice cream maker has told how the three windmills on his farm are named after three ex-girlfriends.

Dr Maitland Mackie, chairman of the ice cream firm Mackie’s, has been running three mid-sized turbines on his fairy farm in Aberdeenshire for almost five years.

He told Holyrood’s Energy Committee on Wednesday he had named them Margaret, Matilda and Mirabel "after three old girlfriends".

During his appearance, Dr Mackie challenged dire investor warnings about renewable energy, saying wind power is the best investment he has ever made.

He said the turbines produce enough energy to power his business more than twice over, leaving a surplus which he sells back to the National Grid.

He challenged predictions by Peter Atherton, head of European utility research at investment firm Citigroup, with a parody of wind power sceptic Donald Trump, declaring: "I am the evidence."

He said: "The rural sector is full of small people who want to have a go like Mackie's experience. It's the best investment I have ever seen in my company.

"We have 3.5MW of wind power and it's revolutionised our local business. It's made our business hugely sustainable in the current scene. That can be here and there across Scotland if these smaller guys could get at the finance.

"One thousand 3MW installations would cost £3bn and add about half more to the electricity supply for Scotland."

Speaking at the same committee last month, US businessman Donald Trump backed his claim that wind farms will destroy tourism by declaring: "I am the evidence."

Mr Mackie later made the same claim in the opposite context, insisting that he is the evidence wind farms will be good for Scotland.

Mr Mackie matched Mr Trump's own colourful contribution one month ago, with humorous asides, colloquialisms and "unparliamentary language" leaving MSPs visibly amused.

Criticising the banks for only funding small wind projects, he said: "You're wasting your time with the small jobbies (jobs). The big jobbies will make the rural sector a hell of a heap of money.

"If you want a real challenge, if we had 10,000 3MW installations across Scotland, and that's not a lot, that would bring into the rural sector £4m annual net profit."

He described turbines as "upside down ships", evoking Scotland's shipbuilding heritage and suggesting they had the potential to create jobs.

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