South Dorset
South Dorset has 73 MW of clean power (all solar) approved and still not built: enough to supply a year's electricity to 27,000 homes. When the wires are too full to carry the power, Britain pays wind farms to switch off instead. No wind farm here is paid that way — almost all of it goes to wind farms in Scotland. That cost is shared across every bill in Britain, so households here pay for it too: about £92 a year per household, £4.1m across the constituency's 44,272 homes. A 60 MW battery was refused planning here in 2024; while discharging it could have supplied about 210,000 homes.
here
The waiting list
Every approved, unbuilt project
| Site | Technology | Enough for | Capacity | Approved | Waiting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Fossil Farm - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 15,000 homes | 40.0 MW | 2022-01 | 4.6 yrs |
| Galton Manor Farm - Solar Farm | Solar Photovoltaics | 11,000 homes | 30.0 MW | 2023-03 | 3.3 yrs |
| Tecan Way, Granby Industrial Estate - Solar Photo Voltaic Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 400 homes | 1.0 MW | 2023-06 | 3.1 yrs |
| Weymouth College Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 200 homes | 0.5 MW | 2021-05 | 5.2 yrs |
| Morrisons Supermarket, Dorchester Road - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.4 MW | 2022-11 | 3.7 yrs |
| Chickerell - Solar Photovoltaics Panel | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.3 MW | 2022-07 | 4.0 yrs |
| Warmwell Leisure Resort, Warmwell Road - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.3 MW | 2022-10 | 3.8 yrs |
| Littlesea Holiday Park, Lynch Lane - Solar photovoltaics | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.3 MW | 2023-02 | 3.5 yrs |
| Jubilee Close - Solar photovoltaics | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.2 MW | 2022-01 | 4.6 yrs |
| Seaview Holiday Park,Preston Road- Solar Photovoltaics Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.2 MW | 2023-02 | 3.5 yrs |
| Cumberland Drive, Granby Industrial Estate - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.2 MW | 2022-11 | 3.7 yrs |
| Shrubbery Lane - Solar Photovoltaic Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.1 MW | 2022-01 | 4.6 yrs |
| Conifers Primary School - Solar Photovoltaics | Solar Photovoltaics | — | — MW | 2021-11 | 4.7 yrs |
Plus 2 more approved within the last two years.
Batteries
| Site | Size | Status | While discharging |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Chickerell Court Farm - Battery Energy Storage System | 400 MW | approved, not built 2025 | could supply ≈1,402,000 homes |
| Coldharbour, Chickerell - Battery Storage Facility | 60 MW | refused 2024 | could supply ≈210,000 homes |
| Eweleaze Spinney - Battery Energy Storage Facility | 50 MW | approved, not built 2025 | could supply ≈175,000 homes |
What this page does not show
Smaller wind farms on the local grid are also switched off; national data does not show it, so the £ figure here is a floor, not a zero. 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 Lloyd Hatton said about the grid in Parliament? Search Hansard →