No.21 of 650 · approved, not built MP: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative) England

Bridlington and The Wolds

Bridlington and The Wolds has 199 MW of clean power (almost all solar) approved and still not built: enough to supply a year's electricity to 78,000 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, £3.9m across the constituency's 42,369 homes. There is also 60 MW of wind running here on the local network. If that gets switched off, no national record shows it.

Not visible
here
60 MW of wind is running in this constituency, but it sits on the local network rather than the national grid — so if it is paid to switch off, no national record shows it. That is why this seat has no figure here: not because nothing happens, but because nobody publishes it. The £ figure for this seat is a floor, not a zero.
199 MW
of clean power — almost all solar — approved and still not built, enough to supply a year's electricity to 78,000 homes — about as many homes as this constituency has. Approved at least two years ago; waiting on the grid, not on planning. That is 3.3× the renewable capacity actually running here.
18 projects · 187 MW solar, 12 MW onshore wind · planning database (REPD), July 2026 · how we worked this out
£3.9m
is what the grid gap costs this constituency's 42,369 households in a year between them — £92 each, about 51 days of one home's electricity.
The £92 per household is a national figure — identical in every GB seat. Only the seat total varies, with the number of households · NESO · how we worked this out

The waiting list

4 of 18 waiting projects · years since approval
Scurf Dyke - Solar Farm 50 MW
6.4 YRS
Back Lane, Skerne - Solar Farm & Battery Storage 45 MW
5.8 YRS
Sunderlandwick Solar Farm 50 MW
3.3 YRS
Old Chalk Pit, West Back Side - Three Oaks Renewable Park 39 MW
2.4 YRS

Every approved, unbuilt project

approved 24+ months ago, still not generating · planning database, July 2026
SiteTechnologyEnough forCapacityApprovedWaiting
Sunderlandwick Solar FarmSE/O Poundsworth Beverley Road DriffieldSolar Photovoltaics18,000 homes49.9 MW2023-043.3 yrs
Scurf Dyke - Solar FarmNe/O Eastfield Farm, Stockbridge Lane, Hutton Cranswick, DriffieldSolar Photovoltaics18,000 homes49.9 MW2020-036.4 yrs
Back Lane, Skerne - Solar Farm & Battery StorageBack Lane, Skerne, DriffieldSolar Photovoltaics16,000 homes45.0 MW2020-105.8 yrs
Old Chalk Pit, West Back Side - Three Oaks Renewable ParkW/O Old Chalk Pit, West Back Side, Haisthorpe, DriffieldSolar Photovoltaics14,000 homes39.0 MW2024-032.4 yrs
CarnabyHousehold waste recycling site, Moor Lane, Carnaby, East RidingWind Onshore5,200 homes6.0 MW2012-0214.5 yrs
Skipsea Lane, Dunnington - Wind FarmNorth Of Manor Farm Wind Turbine Skipsea Lane DunningtonWind Onshore3,700 homes4.2 MW2022-103.8 yrs
North Farm Wind Turbines, Thorpe Le Street - Wind TurbineNorth Farm Wind Turbines Thorpe Le Street Road Thorpe Le StreetWind Onshore900 homes1.0 MW2024-022.5 yrs
Robinson Contract Services, Catfoss Industrial Estate - Solar PanelsRobinson Contract Services Limited, Catfoss Industrial Estate, Catfoss Lane, Brandesburton, DriffieldSolar Photovoltaics400 homes1.0 MW2024-072.0 yrs
Burton Fleming Grange, Wold Newton Road - Wind TurbineS/O Burton Fleming Grange, Wold Newton Road, Burton FlemingWind Onshore600 homes0.7 MW2023-083.0 yrs
Springdale Farm, High Street - Solar PanelsSpringdale Farm High Street RudstonSolar Photovoltaics200 homes0.5 MW2024-052.2 yrs
Dalton Gates Farm, North Dalton Road - Solar PanelsDalton Gates Farm North Dalton Road WarterSolar Photovoltaics200 homes0.4 MW2022-113.8 yrs
Thornwick Bay Holiday Village, North Marine Road - Solar PanelsThornwick Bay Holiday Village North Marine Road FlamboroughSolar Photovoltaics200 homes0.4 MW2023-053.2 yrs
Country Style Foods, Carnaby Industrial Estate - Solar PanelsCountry Style Foods Limited, Carnaby Industrial Estate, Lancaster Road, Carnaby, BridlingtonSolar Photovoltaics100 homes0.4 MW2023-082.9 yrs
Modular & Portable Buildings Hire Limited, Brandesburton - Solar PanelsCatfoss Industrial Estate, DriffieldSolar Photovoltaics100 homes0.4 MW2023-083.0 yrs
A B Graphic International Limited , Wadsworth Road - Solar PV PanelsA B Graphic International Limited Unit 110 Kelleythorpe Industrial Estate Wadsworth Road KelleythorpeSolar Photovoltaics100 homes0.3 MW2023-073.1 yrs
Far Grange Caravan Park, Hornsea Road - Solar PanelsFar Grange Caravan Park, Hornsea Road, Skipsea, DriffieldSolar Photovoltaics100 homes0.2 MW2023-043.3 yrs
Ab Graphic International, Carnaby Industrial Estate - Solar PanelsAB Graphic International Limited Carnaby Industrial Estate Lancaster Road CarnabySolar Photovoltaics— MW2023-013.5 yrs
Bridlington Waste Water Treatment Works - Solar ArrayWaste Water Treatment Works, Kingsgate, BridlingtonSolar Photovoltaics— MW2023-083.0 yrs

Plus 14 more approved within the last two years.

Batteries

projects of 10 MW and above · planning database, July 2026 · what batteries do →
SiteSizeStatusWhile discharging
Back Lane, Skerne - Solar Farm & Battery Storage30 MWapproved, not built 2020could supply ≈105,000 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 →

Read the full method, including everything we cannot see →

What has Charlie Dewhirst said about the grid in Parliament? Search Hansard →

See the full league table Data (JSON)