UK’s energy regulator Ofgem has shortlisted the bidders that are competing to own and operate transmission links to the Galloper and Walney Extension offshore wind farms.
These offshore wind farms are located off the coasts of Cumbria and Suffolk. Ofgem has shortlisted Daimond Transmission Partners, Mari Energy Transmission and Transmission Capital Partners for both Galloper and Walney Extension offshore wind farms.
Diamond Transmission Partners is a consortium of Mitsubishi Corporation and HICL Infrastructure. Mari Energy Transmission is a consortium of Macquarie Capital Group and Frontier Power, while Transmission Capital Partners is a consortium of International Public Partnerships and Transmission Capital Partners Limited Partnership.
According to the regulator, these two links are the final projects of the five to be tendered under the fifth round of offshore transmission owner (OFTO) regime.
The regime established by Ofgem and the UK government allows bidders compete for the right to own the links to the windfarms. As per Ofgem, such biddings reduce the cost of connecting the offshore wind farms to the grid.
Ofgem said that assets in the fifth round are estimated to have a value of £2.2bn and will connect 2.3GW of generating capacity. This is considered to be the biggest tender round till now.
In February, Ofgem shortlisted the bidders for the first three links in the fifth round for the Dudgeon, Race Bank and Rampion wind farms.
The present, shortlists show that there is strong competition to own and operate the links, which is expected to result in keeping costs low for consumers. The next stage for the bidders is the tender stage, after which Ofgem will appoint a preferred bidder for each link.
At the final stage, Ofgem will appoint a bidder as an OFTO, which will receive a fixed revenue stream for operating the link for 20 years under the terms of the licence, subject to the availability of assets.