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Ofgem chooses preferred bidder for link to Galloper Offshore Wind Farm

Ofgem yesterday selected Diamond Transmission Partners as the preferred bidder to own and operate the high voltage transmission link to the Galloper offshore wind farm for the next 20 years.

Diamond Transmission Partners, a consortium comprising Mitsubishi Corporation and HICL Infrastructure Company Limited, was selected by Ofgem through a tender process in which bidders compete to become Offshore Transmission Owners (OFTOs).

The Galloper wind farm, located 30km off the coast of Suffolk, consists of 56 six megawatt (MW) turbines and has a capacity of 353MW. It became operational in March this year and can produce enough power for over 380,700 average UK homes.

The developer of the windfarm and the link is a consortium comprising Innogy SE, Siemens Financial Services, Sumitomo, ESB and a consortium managed by Green Investment Group and Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets. The consortium’s initial estimated value of the transmission assets is £329.1 million. Once the final value of the assets has been agreed by Ofgem, the preferred bidder will pay this amount to the developer, once the bidder’s OFTO licence has been granted to them by Ofgem.

Since Ofgem and Government launched the OFTO regime in 2009 winning bidders have so far invested more than £3.3 billion in links and generation assets which have connected more than 5GW of offshore wind farms. Tendering ownership of these links through the regime continues to reduce the cost of connecting offshore wind. At least £700 million in savings have been achieved for consumers so far across the first three tender rounds.

Notes to editors

  1. The initial estimated value of the transmission assets of £329.1 million is subject to Ofgem’s ongoing cost assessment process, with a final transfer value of the transmission assets being published as part of the licence grant process.
  2. The reserve bidder for the project is Mari Energy Transmission. The reserve bidder may replace the preferred bidder if it fails to satisfy the preferred bidder matters, make the preferred bidder payment, or withdraws or is disqualified from the tender process.
  3. The offshore regulatory regime was developed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (formerly the Department of Energy and Climate Change) and Ofgem, and was launched in 2009. The regime is for licensing offshore electricity transmission and uses competitive tendering to ensure lower costs and higher standards of transmission services for generators and ultimately, consumers.
  4. The Galloper wind farm link is part of tender round 5 which started in 2016. The other links are to the Dudgeon, Race Bank, Walney Extension and Rampion offshore wind farms. The invitation to tender stage for Walney Extension is currently running and will shortly commence for Rampion.  A licence was awarded for the Dudgeon link in November 2018 and a preferred bidder for the Race Bank link was announced in June 2018.
  5. See the Official Public Notice for the appointment of Diamond Transmission Partners as the preferred bidder to own and operate the link to the Race Bank wind farm.
  6. For further information on the OFTO regime, see Offshore transmission tenders.

Further information

For media, contact

Chris Lock: 0207 901 7225

Media out of hours mobile: 07766 511470 (media calls only)

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Related links

Offshore transmission

 

Channel website: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/

Original article link: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/ofgem-chooses-preferred-bidder-link-galloper-offshore-wind-farm

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