CONSTITUENCY BRIEFING · ENERGYMAP.APP
Orkney and Shetland
Orkney and Shetland 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 about 1.1 years. A further 333 MW of approved clean power (all onshore wind) is still waiting to be built here: enough to supply a year's electricity to 291,000 homes. A 15 MW battery approved at Luggies Knowe, Hill Of Gremista in 2025 would store power that is currently wasted; it has not been built.
Ranks 12 of 650 for clean power approved and not built; 6 of 19 among seats with visible switch-off payments.
What is stuck, and why
| Project and developer | Tech | Size | Why it is stuck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy Isles Wind FarmEnergy Isles / Stratcraft | Onshore wind | 110,000 homes 126 MW |
Cannot connect to the grid until 2032, 9 years after it was approvedWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) and SSEN Transmission |
| Shetland Battery Energy Storage SystemZenobe Energy | Battery | 70 MW |
Under constructionWho can move it: the developer |
| Beaw Field Wind FarmPeel Wind Farms | Onshore wind | 52,000 homes 60 MW |
Cannot connect to the grid until 2032, 15 years after it was approvedWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) and SSEN Transmission |
What else is in the briefing
- All 20 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 Orkney and Shetland 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.