Plans to build a substation to bring offshore power onto land at the former Cockenzie Power Station site are unlikely to go ahead before September next year.
Operators Inch Cape Offshore Limited (ICOL) have lodged a fresh planning application with East Lothian Council for the building after it said it would not be able to meet the current deadline of February.
It is seeking new planning permission in principle for the substation, which will bring in power from its planned offshore windfarm off the Angus coast, with a new deadline to be set after September 2022.
The substation, which has been dubbed a "giant shed" by local community councillors, is one of only two projects to be given the go ahead on the 24-hectare site, which was bought by East Lothian Council in 2018.
The local authority took ownership of the site and surrounding land from ScottishPower after producing its Cockenzie masterplan - a visionary document outlining community hopes and economic opportunities for it.
However to date only ICOL and Seagreen, who also plan to build a substation to bring energy from an offshore windfarm onto land, have gained planning approval for a project on the site.
ICOL's planning permission was controversially granted by Scottish Ministers after they called in the application taking the decision out of East Lothian Council's hands in 2018.
East Lothian Council approved Seagreen's proposals in August this year citing the fact ICOL already had the go ahead for a similar project.
However ICOL's permission runs out in a few months and they said due to the Covid pandemic they had been unable to produce the detailed designs needed to take the project forward.
In their new application they say the offshore wind farm, which will have 72 turbines, will be operational in the next five years with a 2025 to 2026 target date.
And they point out the new application is the same as the one, which was approved by Scottish Ministers so should be given the go ahead as well as citing Seagreen's planning permission as a reason to grant their new request.
The application is currently under consideration and can be viewed on the council's planning portal.
