CONSTITUENCY BRIEFING · ENERGYMAP.APP
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.
Ranks 502 of 650 for clean power approved and not built; 11 of 19 among seats with visible switch-off payments.
What is stuck, and why
| Project and developer | Tech | Size | Why it is stuck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Braxbess Battery StorageBraxbess Limited | Battery | 650 MW |
Approved a year ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company |
| Cockenzie Battery Storage System - Site AGresham House | Battery | 240 MW |
Approved a year ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company |
| Smeaton Battery Energy Storage SystemKona Energy | Battery | 228 MW |
Cannot connect to the grid until 2027, 3 years after it was approvedWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) and SP Transmission |
What else is in the briefing
- All 12 projects, each with its planning reference and the organisation that holds the next decision
- Every approval a project still needs, and which of them the public can see
- What building them would mean here — community payments, business rates and construction work
- How Lothian East compares with its neighbouring constituencies
- Drafted parliamentary questions and letters, filled in with this seat's figures
- 3 story angles for local reporting
- A two-page PDF, and a newsroom edition with the references and who to call
No account needed for any of this:
the full seat page with every figure,
the method and sources,
and this constituency's raw data.
The account covers the packaged briefing only.