No.494 of 650 · approved, not built MP: Blair McDougall (Labour) Scotland

East Renfrewshire

East Renfrewshire was paid £4.6m last year to switch off its wind farms, because the wires south were full. That would cover every local household's electricity for 65 days. A further 0.5 MW of approved clean power (all solar) is still waiting to be built here: enough to supply a year's electricity to 200 homes. A 50 MW battery approved at Whitelees Hydrogen Production Facility, Solar Farm & Battery Storage in 2025 would store power that is currently wasted; it has not been built.

£4.6m

paid to wind farms here not to generate in the last year — enough to pay for every household here's electricity for 65 days.

Elexon balancing data, 12 months to 31 Jul 2026 · No.9 of 19 seats with visible switch-offs · how we worked this out

0.5 MW

of clean power — all solar — approved and still not built, enough to supply a year's electricity to 200 homes. Approved at least two years ago; waiting on the grid, not on planning.

1 project · planning database (REPD), July 2026 · how we worked this out

£3.7m

is what the grid gap costs this constituency's 39,732 households in a year between them — £92 each, about 51 days of one home's electricity.

The £92 per household is a national figure — identical in every GB seat. Only the seat total varies, with the number of households · NESO · how we worked this out

The waiting list

1 of 1 waiting projects · years since approval

David Lloyd Leisure Health Club, Stewarton Road - Solar panels 0.5 MW

2.6 YRS

Every approved, unbuilt project

approved 24+ months ago, still not generating · planning database, July 2026

Site	Technology	Enough for	Capacity	Approved	Waiting
David Lloyd Leisure Health Club, Stewarton Road - Solar panels	Solar Photovoltaics	200 homes	0.5 MW	2023-12	2.6 yrs

Plus 4 more approved within the last two years.

Batteries

projects of 10 MW and above · planning database, July 2026 · what batteries do →

Site	Size	Status	While discharging
Whitelees Hydrogen Production Facility, Solar Farm & Battery Storage	50 MW	approved, not built 2025	could supply ≈175,000 homes
Glasgow Road, Eaglesham - Battery Storage Facility	40 MW	approved, not built 2025	could supply ≈140,000 homes

Wind farms paid to switch off

12 months to 31 Jul 2026 · mapping confidence shown · mapping file

Site	Paid, 12 months	Energy lost	Confidence
Whitelee	£4.6m	a year of 21,000 homes' electricity	high

What this page does not show

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.

Electricity does not travel from a particular project to particular houses. Everything generated goes into the national grid and everyone draws from that shared pool, so "enough for X homes" is a way of sizing the electricity — not a claim that these homes would be powered by this site. Battery storage is counted separately from generation: it moves power in time rather than making it.

Planning statuses come from the government's planning database (REPD), which records what was decided and when, but not why. Where a project was refused we say so and name the authority; for the reasons, look up the planning reference on that council's own register. How to check any figure on this page →

Read the full method, including everything we cannot see →

What has Blair McDougall said about the grid in Parliament? Search Hansard →

See the full league table Data (JSON)