NESO gate status, developer engagement and grid capacity queries: EIR release

Information requested

All information held by the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) relating to the following energy development proposals:

1. Mey BESS (ECU00004838)
2. Field / RIGIFA BESS (ECU00004897)
3. Hollandmey Wind Farm
4. Charleston Energy Park / BESS
5. MeyGen Tidal Project and associated infrastructure

Specifically, I request the following:

1. NESO / Grid Connection Queue Engagement
a. Any correspondence (emails, meeting notes, memos, or records of calls) between ECU and National Grid ESO/NESO regarding the grid connection status or queue positioning of the above developments.
b. Any documentation or representations from the developers or their agents relating to Gate 1 or Gate 2 Readiness Criteria as set out in the NESO Connections Reform process.
c. Any discussions or material held regarding the proposed Gills Bay Switching Station and its role in facilitating grid access for any of the above developments.

2. Developer Representations and Site Coordination
a. Any documentation showing the ECU’s awareness of or interaction with shared ownership, company structuring, or land rights relating to any of the above developments — including shared land or access between Hollandmey, Mey BESS and Charleston Energy Park.
b. Internal or external briefing notes, risk assessments, or emails discussing coordination or overlap between these projects, including potential cumulative impact concerns.

3. Planning Readiness and Infrastructure Timelines
a. Any information held by ECU relating to developer claims of grid connection dates (e.g. pre-2030 readiness), including any information submitted as part of planning applications or scoping opinions that purport to meet NESO Clean Power 2030 or 2035 capacity ranges.
b. Any material held on the status, expiry, or delivery progress of planning permissions for key enabling infrastructure — especially the Gills Bay switching station.

4. Safety, Fire Risk and Hazardous Materials
a. Any internal ECU records or external correspondence discussing fire safety, emergency response, or HSE consultation procedures relevant to lithium-ion BESS at the Mey BESS or Rigifa proposals.
b. Any documentation discussing hazardous substances, potential Seveso/COMAH triggers, or environmental planning obligations related to the storage and use of lithium-ion batteries in these cases.

Response

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested, attached within Annex A and shall address each of your points in turn:

Point 1 (NESO/Grid Connection Queue Engagement), Point 2 (Developer Representations and Site Coordination), Point 3 (Planning Readiness and Infrastructure Timelines)

The Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested because it has no role in the regulation of electricity networks.

It may be helpful to clarify that the Scottish Government does not develop electricity infrastructure, nor does it manage any aspects of building infrastructure projects. The Scottish Government’s role is to process and consider formal applications, made to Scottish Ministers, under the Electricity Act 1989 for consent to install overhead lines or for generation assets over 50MW.

The names and roles of the relevant organisations that do regulate the electricity network are highlighted below:

1. Legislation and regulations relating to electricity networks are reserved to the UK Government Electricity network infrastructure legislation

2. The National Energy System Operator are responsible for the strategic approach to transmission investment working with Transmission Owners across Great Britain NESO strategic planning

3. Electricity networks are regulated by Ofgem, the UK’s independent energy regulator Energy policy and regulation

4. Electricity transmission infrastructure and its health and safety requirements are reserved to UK Government Ministers. Transmission Owners must comply with the following legislation when designing routes:

• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSE): https://www.hse.gov.uk/legislation/hswa.htm
• Electricity at Work Regulations 1989: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/635/contents
• Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2665/contents/made

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested as it is not a requirement in the consenting process. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. Therefore, we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held) applies to the information requested. This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception.

Point 4  (Safety, Fire Risk and Hazardous Materials)

Some of the information you have requested is already available from the Energy Consents Unit online portal at ECU Portal . The Energy Consents Portal holds our records of all energy applications received at ECU. It allows for full transparency of each application made by publishing all documents relating to an application, including the decision. From the main page, click on the search tab, followed by 'Advanced Search.' There is then the option to search by case type and status, before selecting the 'go' button which returns the search results. These can then be exported to various file formats to allow for additional analysis.

The following published documents have been identified as relevant to your request and are listed below. These can be found under the ‘Application Documents’ and ‘Consultation Responses’ sections.

Mey BESS
1. Outline Battery Safety Management Plan
2. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Consultation Response

Rigifa BESS
1. Fire Safety Plan
2. Detailed Fire Safety Plan
3. Planning Statement
4. Outline Battery Safety Management Plan
5. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Consultation Response
6. Scottish Fire Rescue Consultation Response

Please also note, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates BESS under a robust regulatory regime which requires BESS designers, installers and operators to take the necessary measures throughout all stages of the system’s construction, operation and decommissioning to ensure health and safety. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested owing to the following exception(s) under regulation(s) of the EIRs applies to that information. The following exceptions apply:

• An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information.
• An exception under regulation 6(1)b of the EIRs (publicly available information) applies as some of the information is already available in the ECU portal.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

An exception 6(1)(b) of the EIRs (information already available) is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception, as the information is already publicly available.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

EIR 202500476177 - Information released - Annex A

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