Kilmarnock and Loudoun
Kilmarnock and Loudoun was paid £900k last year to switch off its wind farms, because the wires south were full. That would cover every local household's electricity for 11 days. A further 82 MW of approved clean power (almost all onshore wind) is still waiting to be built here: enough to supply a year's electricity to 71,000 homes. A 500 MW battery approved at Kilmarnock Battery Energy Storage System in 2025 would store power that is currently wasted; it has not been built.
Ranks 79 of 650 for clean power approved and not built; 16 of 19 among seats with visible switch-off payments.
What is stuck, and why
| Project and developer | Tech | Size | Why it is stuck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kilmarnock Battery Energy Storage SystemMatrix Renewables | Battery | 500 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 ECU00004941 |
| Holmquarry Road - Battery StorageBig Battery (Holmquarry Road) Limited | Battery | 60 MW | Cannot connect to the grid until 2026, 1 year after it was approvedWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) and SP Transmission · earliest connection 2026 · planning ref ECU00004539 |
| Inchbean Farm, Treeswoodhead Road - Battery Energy Storage SystemRNA Energy Limited | Battery | 60 MW | Approved a year ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref ECU00004968 |
| The Drum Wind FarmWind Estate (UK) Ltd | Onshore wind | 50 MW43,000 homes | Refused by East Ayrshire Council in 2025Who can move it: East Ayrshire Council · planning ref 22/0792/PP |
| Sneddon Law Community Wind FarmCommunity Windpower | Onshore wind | 45 MW39,000 homes | Under constructionWho can move it: the developer · earliest connection 2027 (in construction) · planning ref 11/0967/PP |
| Hare Craig WindfarmEnergieKontor UK | Onshore wind | 36 MW31,000 homes | Approved 4 years ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref 20/0001/PP |
| Hare Craig WindfarmEnergieKontor UK | Battery | 14 MW | Approved 4 years ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref 20/0001/PP |
Plus 1 smaller projects — see the full seat page.
Compared with its neighbours
| Constituency | Approved, not built | Running | Paid to switch off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kilmarnock and Loudoun | 82 MW | 283 MW | £900k |
| Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale | 913 MW | 1,451 MW | £15m |
| Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock | 654 MW | 874 MW | £18m |
| Central Ayrshire | 51 MW | 10 MW | not visible |
| North Ayrshire and Arran | 74 MW | 105 MW | not visible |
| East Kilbride and Strathaven | 38 MW | 264 MW | £3.1m |
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale next door has 913 MW waiting, more than Kilmarnock and Loudoun's 82 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.