Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire
Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire was paid £41m last year to switch off its wind farms, because the wires south were full. That would cover every local household's electricity for about 1.3 years. A further 453 MW of approved clean power (almost all onshore wind) is still waiting to be built here: enough to supply a year's electricity to 398,000 homes. A 200 MW battery approved at Knocknagael, Essich in 2026 would store power that is currently wasted; it has not been built. A 50 MW battery was refused planning here in 2024; while discharging it could have supplied about 175,000 homes.
Ranks 9 of 650 for clean power approved and not built; 1 of 19 among seats with visible switch-off payments.
What is stuck, and why
| Project and developer | Tech | Size | Why it is stuck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Earrach Pumped Storage HydroGlen Earrach Energy Limited | Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity | 2,000 MW | Waiting 16 months for a planning decisionWho can move it: the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) · earliest connection 2035 · planning ref ECU00005121 |
| Moy Lodge, Tulloch - Earba Pumped Storage HydroGilkes Energy Ltd | Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity | 1,800 MW | Approved a year ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref ECU00005062 |
| Fearna Pumped Storage Hydro Scheme - Hydro ProjectFearna PSH Limited (SSE Renewables) | Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity | 1,800 MW | Waiting 17 months for a planning decisionWho can move it: the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) · planning ref ECU00005061 |
| Coire GlasSSE Renewables | Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity | 1,500 MW | Cannot connect to the grid until 2029, 9 years after it was approvedWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) and SSEN Transmission · earliest connection 2029 · planning ref ECU00000577 |
| Loch Ness & Loch Kemp - Pumped Hydro SchemeStatera Energy | Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity | 600 MW | Waiting 2.7 years for a planning decisionWho can move it: the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) · planning ref ECU00003398 |
| Red John Pumped StorageStatkraft | Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity | 450 MW | Approved 5 years ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref ECU00000728 |
| Glen Ullinish II - Wind FarmMuirhall Energy Limited | Onshore wind | 310 MW271,000 homes | Waiting 3.0 years for a planning decisionWho can move it: the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) · planning ref ECU00004829 |
| Knocknagael, Essich - Battery Energy Storage SystemField Energy | Battery | 200 MW | Still in the grid queue review — no firm connection date yetWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) · earliest connection 2030 · planning ref ECU00005099 |
| Clune Wind Farm - Wind FarmRenewable Energy Systems | Onshore wind | 187 MW164,000 homes | Waiting 17 months for a planning decisionWho can move it: the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) · planning ref ECU00005038 |
| Beinneun II WindfarmBeinneun 2 Ltd | Battery | 160 MW | Applied in 2025, still waiting for a decisionWho can move it: the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) · planning ref ECU00004972 |
| Beinneun II WindfarmBeinneun 2 Ltd | Onshore wind | 137 MW120,000 homes | Still in the grid queue review — no firm connection date yetWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) · earliest connection 2037 · planning ref ECU00004972 |
| Highland Wind Farm - Wind FarmHighland Wind Farm Limited | Onshore wind | 133 MW116,000 homes | Waiting 18 months for a planning decisionWho can move it: the Scottish Government (it decides big energy projects) · earliest connection 2030 · planning ref ECU00005082 |
Plus 41 smaller projects — see the full seat page.
Compared with its neighbours
| Constituency | Approved, not built | Running | Paid to switch off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire | 453 MW | 1,272 MW | £41m |
| Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber | 384 MW | 460 MW | £1.7m |
| Angus and Perthshire Glens | 143 MW | 345 MW | £3.4m |
| Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey | 642 MW | 525 MW | £17m |
| Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross | 938 MW | 1,306 MW | £36m |
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross next door has 938 MW waiting, more than Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire's 453 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
- 3 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.