Environmental campaigners have criticised the government's decision to scrap plans to subsidise renewable energy projects on the Scottish islands.

Originally Westminster had planned to place a cap on the charges imposed on energy suppliers for hooking up their power to the National Grid, with the aim of promoting the green energy industry.

However, with ministers recently reneging on their initial pledges, green groups have warned that renewable energy projects could be "crippled" by transmission charges, with some projects facing the prospect of paying 40% of their annual turnover to plug into the grid.

Specifically, it is estimated that the typical wind farm on one of Scotland's islands will be charged £8 million a year for producing 100 megawatts for the national system.

"We need to be clear that high charges will undermine our efforts to establish a thriving and diverse renewables industry in Scotland," Jason Ormiston, the chief executive of industry body Scottish Renewables, told the Scotsman.

"They would prevent the deployment of large wind farms in the islands and north of Scotland and threaten the successful deployment of Scotland's first - and therefore most important - fleet of wave and tidal projects."

Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, is expected to meet with Ofgem within the coming weeks to discuss possible alternatives to these transmission charges.