Galbraith has been advising East Lothian Council for a number of years following its acquisition of the former power station at Cockenzie in 2018.

To date, the council has sold a small area of the site’s 200-plus acres to the Inchcape Offshore Windfarm for the construction of the onshore substation that will be required to connect into the national grid. Construction began earlier this year and is advancing well.

Separate discussions have been ongoing with Seagreen Wind Energy to accommodate a substation and grid connection for an extension to its Seagreen Offshore Windfarm, which lies off the Angus coast.

There have also been recent discussions with a developer who has submitted a planning application for a large battery energy storage solution (BESS) on land immediately to the south of the grid substation.

In 2023 Galbraith provided assistance to the council in its successful bid for levelling-up funding from the UK Government and works to remove large earth bunds (barriers) surrounding the former coal store are expected to start later this year.

The levelling-up works will open and improve significant areas of commercial development land both in and around the former coal yard and also increase the levels of the site of the former power station close to the coast.

Upwards of 70 acres of development land will ultimately be available to facilitate medium- and longer-term economic development activity.

The council is currently progressing through a masterplanning exercise to ensure flexibility for potential future uses. At present there is a limited amount of larger sites for development in the council area and combined with the recent activity in the energy sector, there is great potential for more jobs to be created.

We will report on further activities in the future.