November 24, 2020
Scotland

Energy giant aims to bring windfarm plan to reality at former Cockenzie Power Station site

By Marie Sharp | Edinburgh Evening News | Tuesday, 24th November 2020 | www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com

A new bid to bring offshore energy onto the National Grid using the former Cockenzie Power Station site has been launched as the battle for the prime coastal land hots up.

Seagreen Wind Energy has lodged a Pre Application Notice with East Lothian Council over plans to bring wind farm power onto land at Cockenzie.

The latest proposal, however, has already raised alarm bells for some in the neighbouring Prestonpans community as the boundary for the project appears to cross the well-used Greenhills community space.

Seagreen currently has a £3bn offshore wind farm development under construction after it was granted exclusive rights for the Firth of Forth Zone of the UK’s Round 3 offshore wind farm development programme.

Phase One within the zone includes the development of two offshore windfarms – Seagreen Alpha and Seagreen Bravo – located more than 27km from the Angus coastline.

Work is already underway to bring the energy online at a number of sites, with Cockenzie the latest one to be put forward.

The former Cockenzie Power Station site was bought by East Lothian Council from ScottishPower after the station’s iconic chimneys were demolished.

It has been marketed by the local authority for projects with a visionary masterplan setting out a wide range of employment, energy and recreational uses for the large 37-hectare site and surrounding area.

To date, a substation which will bring energy onshore for Inch Cape Offshore Ltd is the only proposal given planning permsission for the site.

A separate proposal from Composium Development Ltd has also been put forward which looks to harness wave power at the site and bring it onshore to heat giant greenhouses and a data centre with potential to provide green energy for local homes.

Seagreen’s proposals cover an area of land outwith the power station footprint itself, where underground cables would be brought on land, under the main road and into the National Grid inshore.

The proposal includes an onshore substation, underground electricity cables and “temporary and permanent infrastructure to export electricity”.

Details of upcoming public consultations for the proposal, which will be held online due to Covid restrictions, are due to be confirmed.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/11/24/energy-giant-aims-to-bring-windfarm-plan-to-reality-at-former-cockenzie-power-station-site/