The facility, which will be located at Clydeport, in North Ayrshire, will be used to develop up to three prototype wind turbines.
SSE said it is in discussions with a number of turbine manufacturers over who will take positions at the facility.
SSE said the project is an extension of its Centre of Engineering Excellence for Renewable Energy centre, which was established with the University of Strathclyde in 2009.
In February, the company announced it had linked up with a number of manufacturers including Siemens to develop an offshore wind programme.
In March, SSE halted plans to build the 378MW Kintyre offshore wind farm off the Scottish coast for a variety of reasons including a lack of wind resource.
.png)
.png)
