CONSTITUENCY BRIEFING · ENERGYMAP.APP
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale was paid £15m last year to switch off its wind farms, because the wires south were full. That would cover every local household's electricity for 203 days. A further 913 MW of approved clean power (almost all onshore wind) is still waiting to be built here: enough to supply a year's electricity to 773,000 homes. A 500 MW battery approved at Redshaw Battery Energy Storage in 2025 would store power that is currently wasted; it has not been built. A 200 MW battery was refused planning here in 2026; while discharging it could have supplied about 701,000 homes.
Ranks 2 of 650 for clean power approved and not built; 5 of 19 among seats with visible switch-off payments.
What is stuck, and why
| Project and developer | Tech | Size | Approved | Why it is stuck | Earliest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coalburn II Energy Storage Facility - Battery StoragAlcemi Storage Development Limited | Battery | 1,000 MW |
2024 | Under constructionWho can move it: the developer · Planning ref ECU00004698 | 2027 (in construction) |
| High Netherfauld House Farm 1, Tower Road - Battery ESB (Harker) Limited | Battery | 502 MW |
— | Waiting 1.2 years for a planning decisionWho can move it: the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) · Planning ref ECU00006063 | — |
| Redshaw Battery Energy StorageBayWa r.e. UK Limited | Battery | 500 MW |
2025 | Still in the grid queue review — no firm connection date yetWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) · Planning ref ECU00005122 | 2031 |
| Gretna Green Battery StorageGresham House Devco Pipeline | Battery | 456 MW |
2025 | Approved a year ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · Planning ref ECU00004986 | — |
| Scoop Hill Wind FarmCommunity Wind Power Limited | Onshore wind | 378,000 homes 432 MW |
— | Refused by the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) in 2026Who can move it: the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) · Planning ref ECU00000533 | — |
| Lagrae Battery Energy Storage SystemBuccleuch Estates Limited | Battery | 400 MW |
— | Still in the grid queue review — no firm connection date yetWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) · Planning ref ECU00004991 | 2036 |
| Glenmuckloch Pumped Storage HydroBuccleuch Estates | Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity | 400 MW |
2016 | Approved 10 years ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · Planning ref EC00005236 | — |
| Red Moss - Battery StorageGreen Switch Capital Limited | Battery | 342 MW |
2025 | Still in the grid queue review — no firm connection date yetWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) · Planning ref ECU00005043 | 2030 |
| Faw Side Community Wind FarmCommunity Windpower | Onshore wind | 275,000 homes 315 MW |
— | Refused by the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) in 2023Who can move it: the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) · Planning ref ECU00001833 | — |
| Sanquhar 2 Community Wind FarmCommunity Windpower | Onshore wind | 269,000 homes 308 MW |
2023 | Under constructionWho can move it: the developer · Planning ref ECU00001801 | 2027 (in construction) |
| Bodinglee Wind FarmBanks Group | Onshore wind | 233,000 homes 266 MW |
— | Waiting 3.1 years for a planning decisionWho can move it: the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) · Planning ref ECU00004839 | — |
| Hagshaw Energy Cluster – Western Expansion3R Energy Solutions Limited | Battery | 225 MW |
— | Waiting 1.2 years for a planning decisionWho can move it: the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) · Planning ref ECU00004623 | 2028 |
Plus 70 smaller projects — see the full seat page.
What building it would do here
- Building what is already approved or refused here would supply a year's electricity to about 2,916,700 homes (7,672 MW).
- It would pay about £17m a year to the local community — using the rate the government sets for wind farms, and the rates proposed for solar and batteries.
- It would be worth roughly £70m a year in business rates to the council, judging by what comparable sites are rated at.
- At peak, construction would put an estimated 5,346–6,415 people on site across these projects.
- The 200 MW battery refused here could have supplied about 701,000 homes while discharging, and stored power that is currently switched off in Scotland.
Estimates from published per-MW factors — sources and dates in the method.
Compared with its neighbours
| Constituency | Approved, not built | Running | Paid to switch off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale | 913 MW | 1,451 MW | £15m |
| Midlothian | 4.2 MW | 0 MW | not visible |
| Livingston | 118 MW | 116 MW | not visible |
| Edinburgh South West | 0 MW | 0 MW | not visible |
| Carlisle | 70 MW | 49 MW | not visible |
| Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk | 85 MW | 685 MW | £7.0m |
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale has more approved-and-waiting capacity than any of its neighbouring seats.
What to ask
WRITTEN PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION · DEPARTMENT FOR ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to bring forward the grid connection date for Harestanes Windfarm in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, which received planning permission in 2019 and holds a connection offer for 2028.
WRITTEN PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION · MINISTRY OF HOUSING, COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
To ask the Secretary of State, what assessment she has made of the time taken to determine planning applications for renewable energy projects, including High Netherfauld House Farm 1, Tower Road - Battery Energy Storage System in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, which has been awaiting a decision for 15 months.
WRITTEN PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION · DEPARTMENT FOR ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate she has made of the cost of constraint payments made to wind farms in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale in the last 12 months, and what steps she is taking to reduce that cost through network reinforcement and storage.
LETTER TO THE GRID OPERATOR (NESO) AND SP TRANSMISSION
I am writing about Harestanes Windfarm in my constituency of Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale. The project already has planning permission, but cannot connect to the grid until 2028. Please set out what would be required to bring that date forward, whether the project has been considered for an earlier connection, and what my constituents can expect in the meantime.
QUESTION TO THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT (IT DECIDES BIG ENERGY PROJECTS)
Scoop Hill Wind Farm (432 MW) was refused planning permission in 2026. Please confirm the grounds for refusal, whether the applicant was offered the opportunity to address them, and what capacity of generation or storage has been approved in the authority area since.
QUESTION TO THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT (IT DECIDES BIG ENERGY PROJECTS)
The application for High Netherfauld House Farm 1, Tower Road - Battery Energy Storage System has been awaiting a decision for 15 months. Please set out the reason for the delay and the expected determination date.
Constituents can write to David Mundell via WriteToThem, or see what they have said about the grid in Parliament.
Story angles
1. Approved in 2015, connecting in 2028: the wind onshore project in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale that will wait 13 years for a wire.
2. Approved in 2017, connecting in 2029: the wind onshore project in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale that will wait 12 years for a wire.
3. Wind farms in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale were paid £15m last year not to generate — enough to pay for every household here's electricity for 203 days.
Numbers, CSVs and per-seat JSON are free to reuse with attribution to energymap.app. Method and caveats.
Sources. Switch-off payments: Elexon settlement data, 12 months to 31 Jul 2026. Planning: Renewable Energy Planning Database (DESNZ), July 2026. Connection dates: NESO Transmission Entry Capacity register. Bill impact: NESO balancing cost reporting. Households: ONS/NRS/NISRA census. MP: UK Parliament Members API.
How to check any of this. Every project above carries its planning application reference. Search that reference on the council's own planning register for the primary record, including the decision notice and, where a project was refused, the reasons. Statuses here come from the government's planning database (REPD, July 2026 edition), which records the status and date of a decision but not the reasons for it — so this briefing never states why something was refused.
Caveats for this seat. The switch-off figure covers the big wind farms on the national grid only; smaller farms on the local grid are switched off invisibly, so it is a floor. Offshore wind is counted nationally, never per seat. The planning database can run a quarter behind reality.
Generated 25 August 2026 · full method at energymap.app/method
How to check any of this. Every project above carries its planning application reference. Search that reference on the council's own planning register for the primary record, including the decision notice and, where a project was refused, the reasons. Statuses here come from the government's planning database (REPD, July 2026 edition), which records the status and date of a decision but not the reasons for it — so this briefing never states why something was refused.
Caveats for this seat. The switch-off figure covers the big wind farms on the national grid only; smaller farms on the local grid are switched off invisibly, so it is a floor. Offshore wind is counted nationally, never per seat. The planning database can run a quarter behind reality.
Generated 25 August 2026 · full method at energymap.app/method