{
 "meta": {
  "title": "Britain’s clean power build-out",
  "standfirst": "Every renewable and low-carbon power project in Britain's planning database, from the Renewable Energy Planning Database. This is the build-out: what is operating, what has consent and is waiting to be built, and what is still in planning, by technology, company and nation. 57.0 GW is operational, with far more in the pipeline.",
  "basis": "The Renewable Energy Planning Database tracks projects above 150 kW through planning, from application to operation. It is a record of the pipeline, not a measure of electricity generated. Capacity is installed megawatts, not the power actually produced, which depends on the wind and the sun.",
  "sourceNote": "Every figure is computed from the published database, the Q1 2026 extract with records updated to April 2026. Project locations come from the grid reference on each record.",
  "projects": 14316,
  "operationalGW": 57.0,
  "operationalSites": 3100,
  "awaitingGW": 140.7
 },
 "pipeline": {
  "eyebrow": "The pipeline",
  "heading": "Built, being built, and waiting",
  "intro": "57.0 GW of clean power is operating today. Another 140.7 GW already has planning consent but has not been built, the single biggest block in the pipeline, which points at grid connection and finance rather than planning as the hold-up.",
  "stages": [
   {
    "label": "Operational",
    "note": "operating now",
    "gw": 57.0,
    "count": 3100
   },
   {
    "label": "Under Construction",
    "note": "being built",
    "gw": 21.9,
    "count": 436
   },
   {
    "label": "Awaiting Construction",
    "note": "consent granted, not yet built",
    "gw": 140.7,
    "count": 5597
   },
   {
    "label": "Application Submitted",
    "note": "in planning",
    "gw": 88.3,
    "count": 1684
   },
   {
    "label": "Application Refused",
    "note": "refused",
    "gw": 17.7,
    "count": 900
   }
  ]
 },
 "technology": {
  "eyebrow": "The mix",
  "heading": "What is generating now",
  "intro": "Operational capacity by technology. It is a broad mix: onshore and offshore wind and solar lead, but battery storage, biomass, pumped storage and hydro all feature.",
  "rows": [
   {
    "name": "Wind Onshore",
    "gw": 15.3,
    "count": 778
   },
   {
    "name": "Wind Offshore",
    "gw": 15.1,
    "count": 48
   },
   {
    "name": "Solar Photovoltaics",
    "gw": 10.9,
    "count": 1393
   },
   {
    "name": "Battery",
    "gw": 4.8,
    "count": 171
   },
   {
    "name": "Biomass (dedicated)",
    "gw": 3.5,
    "count": 81
   },
   {
    "name": "Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity",
    "gw": 2.8,
    "count": 4
   },
   {
    "name": "EfW Incineration",
    "gw": 1.5,
    "count": 60
   },
   {
    "name": "Landfill Gas",
    "gw": 0.8,
    "count": 270
   },
   {
    "name": "Biomass (co-firing)",
    "gw": 0.7,
    "count": 2
   }
  ]
 },
 "nations": {
  "eyebrow": "Across the nations",
  "heading": "Where the operating capacity sits",
  "intro": "Operational capacity by nation. England has the most in total; Scotland carries a large share for its size, with onshore wind to the fore.",
  "rows": [
   {
    "name": "England",
    "gw": 34.1,
    "count": 2150
   },
   {
    "name": "Scotland",
    "gw": 16.2,
    "count": 583
   },
   {
    "name": "Wales",
    "gw": 5.3,
    "count": 247
   },
   {
    "name": "Northern Ireland",
    "gw": 1.5,
    "count": 118
   }
  ]
 },
 "rollout": {
  "eyebrow": "Year by year",
  "heading": "How fast it has been built",
  "intro": "New operational capacity added each year. The pace has been uneven, and the recent years sit below the middle of the last decade even as the consented backlog has grown. The 2026 figure covers the first quarter only, as far as the extract reaches, so it is not a full year.",
  "series": [
   {
    "year": 2010,
    "gw": 1.07
   },
   {
    "year": 2011,
    "gw": 0.93
   },
   {
    "year": 2012,
    "gw": 2.73
   },
   {
    "year": 2013,
    "gw": 3.99
   },
   {
    "year": 2014,
    "gw": 4.05
   },
   {
    "year": 2015,
    "gw": 4.83
   },
   {
    "year": 2016,
    "gw": 3.61
   },
   {
    "year": 2017,
    "gw": 5.45
   },
   {
    "year": 2018,
    "gw": 4.04
   },
   {
    "year": 2019,
    "gw": 2.64
   },
   {
    "year": 2020,
    "gw": 1.33
   },
   {
    "year": 2021,
    "gw": 0.93
   },
   {
    "year": 2022,
    "gw": 4.05
   },
   {
    "year": 2023,
    "gw": 2.98
   },
   {
    "year": 2024,
    "gw": 1.75
   },
   {
    "year": 2025,
    "gw": 1.98
   },
   {
    "year": 2026,
    "gw": 0.6
   }
  ]
 },
 "operators": {
  "eyebrow": "Who builds it",
  "heading": "The biggest operators",
  "intro": "The companies with the most operational capacity. A handful of large developers, several of them offshore wind specialists, account for a big share.",
  "rows": [
   {
    "name": "Orsted (formerly Dong Energy)",
    "gw": 4.4,
    "count": 13
   },
   {
    "name": "Drax Power",
    "gw": 2.6,
    "count": 4
   },
   {
    "name": "First Hydro Company",
    "gw": 2.1,
    "count": 2
   },
   {
    "name": "Scottish Power Renewables",
    "gw": 1.9,
    "count": 21
   },
   {
    "name": "Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE)",
    "gw": 1.7,
    "count": 55
   },
   {
    "name": "Vattenfall",
    "gw": 1.1,
    "count": 11
   },
   {
    "name": "SSE / Seagreen Wind Energy Ltd",
    "gw": 1.1,
    "count": 1
   },
   {
    "name": "Diamond Green Limited, CTG & Ocean Winds",
    "gw": 0.9,
    "count": 1
   }
  ]
 },
 "westLothian": {
  "eyebrow": "Close to home",
  "heading": "The build-out in West Lothian",
  "intro": "West Lothian has 53 projects in the database, 0.9 GW in all, of which 0.1 GW is operating. The striking local trend is battery storage: 11 of the 53 are battery projects, alongside onshore wind such as Tormywheel and Longhill Burn. The county is becoming a place where power is stored as well as made.",
  "count": 53,
  "totalGW": 0.9,
  "operationalGW": 0.1,
  "batteryCount": 11,
  "projects": [
   {
    "site": "Pond Industrial Park, Whitburn Road - Pond Battery Storage",
    "tech": "Battery",
    "mw": 200.0,
    "status": "Awaiting Construction"
   },
   {
    "site": "Drumshoreland Road Battery Storage Facility",
    "tech": "Battery",
    "mw": 49.9,
    "status": "Awaiting Construction"
   },
   {
    "site": "Middlerigg - Battery Energy Storage",
    "tech": "Battery",
    "mw": 49.9,
    "status": "Awaiting Construction"
   },
   {
    "site": "Fauch Hill",
    "tech": "Wind Onshore",
    "mw": 48.0,
    "status": "Appeal Refused"
   },
   {
    "site": "Longhill Burn Wind Farm",
    "tech": "Wind Onshore",
    "mw": 45.6,
    "status": "Under Construction"
   },
   {
    "site": "Gladsmuir Hills - Wind Farm",
    "tech": "Wind Onshore",
    "mw": 41.0,
    "status": "Application Submitted"
   },
   {
    "site": "Leyden Road - Solar Array",
    "tech": "Solar Photovoltaics",
    "mw": 40.0,
    "status": "Application Submitted"
   },
   {
    "site": "Tormywheel",
    "tech": "Wind Onshore",
    "mw": 30.8,
    "status": "Operational"
   },
   {
    "site": "Drumcross Battery Storage",
    "tech": "Battery",
    "mw": 30.0,
    "status": "Awaiting Construction"
   },
   {
    "site": "Learielaw Farm",
    "tech": "Battery",
    "mw": 29.9,
    "status": "Revised"
   }
  ]
 },
 "questions": {
  "eyebrow": "Questions this raises",
  "heading": "For developers, the grid and government",
  "items": [
   "140.7 GW has consent but is not built. Is the grid connection queue, not planning, now the real constraint on clean power?",
   "Battery storage is the fastest-growing category, locally and nationally. Is the planning and grid system keeping pace with storage as well as generation?",
   "New operational capacity in recent years sits below the middle of the last decade. What would it take to build the consented pipeline out faster?",
   "A small number of large developers dominate. Is there room for more community and locally owned schemes?"
  ]
 },
 "sources": [
  {
   "name": "Renewable Energy Planning Database (DESNZ)",
   "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
   "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewable-energy-planning-database-monthly-extract"
  }
 ],
 "caveats": [
  "The database tracks projects above 150 kW through planning. It is a pipeline record, not a measure of electricity generated.",
  "Capacity is installed megawatts. Actual output depends on the technology and the weather, so a megawatt of solar and a megawatt of gas are not the same in practice.",
  "Status reflects the latest planning stage recorded. The pipeline shifts each quarter as projects progress, are refused or are abandoned.",
  "West Lothian projects are identified by the county and planning authority fields.",
  "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0."
 ]
}