Lothian East
Lothian East was paid £3.2m last year to switch off its wind farms, because the wires south were full. That would cover every local household's electricity for 43 days. A further 0.4 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 650 MW battery approved at Braxbess Battery Storage in 2025 would store power that is currently wasted; it has not been built.
The waiting list
Every approved, unbuilt project
| Site | Technology | Enough for | Capacity | Approved | Waiting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunbar Waste Water Treatment Works, Beltonford Hedderwick - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.3 MW | 2023-01 | 3.6 yrs |
| Seton Sands, Holiday Village - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.2 MW | 2023-06 | 3.1 yrs |
Plus 4 more approved within the last two years.
Batteries
| Site | Size | Status | While discharging |
|---|---|---|---|
| Braxbess Battery Storage | 650 MW | approved, not built 2025 | could supply ≈2,278,000 homes |
| Cockenzie Battery Storage System - Site A | 240 MW | approved, not built 2025 | could supply ≈841,000 homes |
| Smeaton Battery Energy Storage System | 228 MW | approved, not built 2024 | could supply ≈799,000 homes |
| Newlands Hill Wind Energy Hub | 136 MW | in planning | could supply ≈477,000 homes |
| Cockenzie Battery Storage System - Site B | 102 MW | approved, not built 2025 | could supply ≈357,000 homes |
| Aikengall II Community Wind Farm Battery | 80 MW | 2019 | could supply ≈280,000 homes |
| Springfield - Solar Farm & Battery Energy Storage | 80 MW | in planning | could supply ≈280,000 homes |
| Dolphingstone Farm - Battery Energy Storage System | 63 MW | approved, not built 2025 | could supply ≈221,000 homes |
| Dunbar Grid Substation - Battery Storage | 50 MW | approved, not built 2024 | could supply ≈175,000 homes |
| Aikengall, Innerwick - Battery Energy Storage | 20 MW | approved, not built 2024 | could supply ≈70,000 homes |
Wind farms paid to switch off
| Site | Paid, 12 months | Energy lost | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aikengall IIa Community Wind Farm | £1.8m | a year of 11,000 homes' electricity | medium |
| Aikengall II, Wester Dod Community Wind Farm | £1.4m | a year of 8,300 homes' electricity | medium |
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 →
What has Mr Douglas Alexander said about the grid in Parliament? Search Hansard →