South Cotswolds
South Cotswolds has 194 MW of clean power (all solar) approved and still not built: enough to supply a year's electricity to 70,000 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, £3.7m across the constituency's 40,511 homes.
Ranks 22 of 650 for clean power approved and not built.
What is stuck, and why
| Project and developer | Tech | Size | Why it is stuck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lime Down - Solar ProjectIsland Green Power | Solar | 500 MW182,000 homes | Applied in 2025, still waiting for a decisionWho can move it: the Planning Inspectorate (it decides nationally significant projects) · planning ref EN010168 |
| Lime Down - Battery StorageIsland Green Power | Battery | 500 MW | Applied in 2025, still waiting for a decisionWho can move it: the Planning Inspectorate (it decides nationally significant projects) · planning ref EN010168 |
| Fairholme, Minety - Battery StoragePelagic Energy | Battery | 50 MW | Its grid connection date of 2025 has passed and it is still not generatingWho can move it: the grid operator (NESO) and National Grid · earliest connection 2025 · planning ref PL/2022/05412 |
| Stonehill Energy StoragePenso Power (BW ESS) | Battery | 50 MW | Approved a year ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref PL/2022/05504 |
| Ravensroost Farm, Minety - Battery Energy StorageConrad Energy Developments II Limited | Battery | 50 MW | Approved a year ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref PL/2022/04524 |
| National Grid Minety SubstationHarbour Energy | Battery | 50 MW | Approved 6 years ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref 20/07390/FUL |
| Leigh Delamere - Solar farm & Battery storageEden Renewables | Solar | 50 MW18,000 homes | Under constructionWho can move it: the developer · earliest connection 2027 (in construction) · planning ref PL/2021/06100 |
| Crudwell Road Solar Farm & Battery StorageFive Lanes Solar Limited | Solar | 50 MW18,000 homes | Approved 3 years ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref 20/08618/FUL |
| Minety SubstationJBM Solar Project | Solar | 40 MW15,000 homes | Approved 4 years ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref 20/03528/FUL |
| Red Barn - Solar Farm & Battery StorageEden Renewables | Battery | 40 MW | Approved a year ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref PL/2023/08481 |
| Red Barn - Solar Farm & Battery StorageEden Renewables | Solar | 40 MW15,000 homes | Approved a year ago — nothing has happened sinceWho can move it: the developer and the network company · planning ref PL/2023/08481 |
| Leigh Delamere - Solar farm & Battery storageEden Renewables | Battery | 40 MW | Under constructionWho can move it: the developer · earliest connection 2027 (in construction) · planning ref PL/2021/06100 |
Plus 10 smaller projects — see the full seat page.
Compared with its neighbours
| Constituency | Approved, not built | Running | Paid to switch off |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Cotswolds | 194 MW | 224 MW | not visible |
| Melksham and Devizes | 51 MW | 133 MW | not visible |
| Chippenham | 103 MW | 101 MW | not visible |
| Swindon South | 2.6 MW | 0 MW | not visible |
| Swindon North | 58 MW | 105 MW | not visible |
| Witney | 48 MW | 61 MW | not visible |
South Cotswolds has more approved-and-waiting capacity than any of its neighbouring seats.
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.