ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) has said that that it has scrapped its plans for developing a massive offshore wind farm off the coast of Tiree.

The company has said that it is cancelling plans for the Argyll Array project, which was expected to power one million homes in Scotland. SPR was planning to invest a whooping £5.4 billion on developing the wind-farm in the location. The company said that the wind farm is not viable financially at present.

"The Argyll Array project is not financially viable in the short term," Scottish Power Renewables' head of offshore wind, Jonathan Cole, said in a statement.

The company said that the hard volcanic rock in the seabed, strength of waves that could obstruct construction and the presence of basking sharks are the main reasons for cancelling the project. SPR has become the third utility company to cancel plans for a wind farm in the UK in recent months. RWE and Centrica have both cancelled their projects stating that the existing technology was not advanced enough for making the projects viable.

UK is the world's biggest offshore wind market and aims to maintain the lead by increasing its capacity five times to 18 gigawatts (GW) within this decade.