Doncaster North
Doncaster North has 3.8 MW of clean power (all solar) approved and still not built: enough to supply a year's electricity to 1,400 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 42,487 homes.
Ranks 278 of 650 for clean power approved and not built.
What is stuck, and why
| Project and developer | Tech | Size | Why it is stuck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thorpe Marsh Power Station - Battery Energy StorageWest Burton Energy | Battery | 1,450 MW | Cleared the grid queue review, so it now has a firm connection dateWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) · earliest connection 2027 · planning ref 23/00537/FULM |
| Thorpe Marsh Power Station, Marsh Lane - Battery Energy StorageWest Burton Energy / Banks Group | Battery | 1,400 MW | Approved a year ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref 23/00537/FULM |
| The Balk, Almholme - Energy Storage SystemInnova Renewables | Battery | 1,025 MW | Approved a year ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref 23/02482/FULM |
| Fenwick Solar Farm & Battery StorageBoom Developments Limited | Solar | 238 MW86,000 homes | Cannot connect to the grid until 2032, 6 years after it was approvedWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) and National Grid · earliest connection 2032 · planning ref EN010152 |
| Fordtead Lane, Thorpe Marsh - Battery Energy FacilityNewton Energi Limited | Battery | 180 MW | Approved 2 years ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref 23/01746/FULM |
| The Balk, Almholme - Solar FarmInnova Renewables | Solar | 50 MW18,000 homes | Approved a year ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref 23/02482/FULM |
| Butt Lane, Hooton Pagnell - Solar FarmBritish Solar Renewables | Solar | 50 MW18,000 homes | Applied in 2025, still waiting for a decisionWho can move it: Doncaster Council · planning ref 25/02389/FULM |
| Marr Hall Farm, Barnsley Road - Solar FarmEnviromena Asset Management UK Limited | Solar | 40 MW15,000 homes | Refused by Doncaster Council in 2025Who can move it: Doncaster Council · planning ref 23/02634/FULM |
| Moorhouse Grange, Moorhouse Lane - Solar FarmZetland Group | Solar | 30 MW11,000 homes | Applied in 2025, still waiting for a decisionWho can move it: Doncaster Council · planning ref 25/01535/FULM |
| Butt Lane, Hooton Pagnell Battery Energy StorageBritish Solar Renewables | Battery | 30 MW | Applied in 2025, still waiting for a decisionWho can move it: Doncaster Council · planning ref 25/02389/FULM |
Plus 3 smaller projects — see the full seat page.
Compared with its neighbours
| Constituency | Approved, not built | Running | Paid to switch off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doncaster North | 3.8 MW | 21 MW | not visible |
| Rawmarsh and Conisbrough | 2.2 MW | 0 MW | not visible |
| Doncaster Central | 62 MW | 4.2 MW | not visible |
| Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme | 83 MW | 146 MW | not visible |
| Barnsley South | 0.5 MW | 1.7 MW | not visible |
| Barnsley North | 5.1 MW | 11 MW | not visible |
Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme next door has 83 MW waiting, more than Doncaster North's 3.8 MW.
The rest of the briefing
- Every approval each project still needs, and which of them the public can see
- What building them would mean here — community payments, business rates and construction work
- Drafted parliamentary questions and letters, filled in with this seat's figures
- 2 story angles for local reporting
- A two-page PDF, and a newsroom edition with the references and who to call
Everything above needs no account, and neither does the full seat page, the method or this constituency's raw data. The account covers the packaged briefing and its PDF, and nothing else.