Washington and Gateshead South
Washington and Gateshead South has 26 MW of clean power (all solar) approved and still not built: enough to supply a year's electricity to 9,300 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, £3.9m across the constituency's 41,894 homes. A 71 MW battery was refused planning here in 2026; while discharging it could have supplied about 249,000 homes.
here
The waiting list
Every approved, unbuilt project
| Site | Technology | Enough for | Capacity | Approved | Waiting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Road - Solar Farm | Solar Photovoltaics | 7,300 homes | 20.0 MW | 2021-12 | 4.7 yrs |
| Snop, Rainhill Road - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 500 homes | 1.2 MW | 2023-01 | 3.6 yrs |
| Parker Hannifin Manufacturing - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 400 homes | 1.1 MW | 2023-08 | 3.0 yrs |
| Griffiths Textiles Machines, Alston Road - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 300 homes | 0.7 MW | 2022-09 | 3.9 yrs |
| Encore Envelopes Limited, Industrial Road - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 200 homes | 0.5 MW | 2023-12 | 2.7 yrs |
| Rocket Medical, Sedling Road - Solar PV System | Solar Photovoltaics | 200 homes | 0.4 MW | 2023-02 | 3.5 yrs |
| Sedling Road - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.4 MW | 2022-04 | 4.3 yrs |
| Vantec, Turbine Way - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.3 MW | 2023-06 | 3.1 yrs |
| Vantec, Infiniti Drive - Solar Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.3 MW | 2023-06 | 3.1 yrs |
| Team Valley Trading Estate - Solar Photovoltaic Equipment | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.2 MW | 2022-03 | 4.4 yrs |
| Spire Road - Solar Array | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.2 MW | 2022-03 | 4.3 yrs |
| Dacon Fabrications Limited, Dukesway - Solar PV Panels | Solar Photovoltaics | 100 homes | 0.2 MW | 2022-11 | 3.7 yrs |
Plus 9 more approved within the last two years.
Batteries
| Site | Size | Status | While discharging |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mary Avenue, Birtley - Battery Energy Storage | 71 MW | refused 2026 | could supply ≈249,000 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 Mrs Sharon Hodgson said about the grid in Parliament? Search Hansard →