Ofgem announces bidder shortlist for links to the Galloper and Walney Extension offshore wind farms

3 Aug 2017 04:09 PM

Ofgem has today announced shortlists of bidders competing to own and operate transmission links to the Galloper and Walney Extension windfarms off the coasts of Cumbria and Suffolk. The following bidders have been shortlisted:

Galloper	Walney Extension
Diamond Transmission Partners	Diamond Transmission Partners
Mari Energy Transmission	Mari Energy Transmission
Transmission Capital Partners	Transmission Capital Partners

The two links are the final projects of the five to be tendered under the fifth round of the Offshore Transmission Owner (OFTO) regime. Under the regime, which was established by Ofgem and Government, bidders compete for the rights to own the links to the windfarms. This lowers the costs of connecting offshore wind farms for consumers.
The assets in the fifth round have an estimated value of £2 billion and will connect 2.3GW of generation capacity, making it the biggest tender round to date.

The bidder shortlist for the first three links in the fifth round (for the Dudgeon, Race Bank and Rampion wind farms) was announced in February.

The shortlists again show there is strong competition to own and operate the links, which will help keep costs low for consumers. The bidders will now go through to the Invitation to Tender stage. Following that, Ofgem will appoint the preferred bidder for each link.

At the final stage, Ofgem appoints a bidder as an OFTO. The OFTO will receive a fixed revenue stream for operating the link for 20 years under the terms of their licence, subject to the availability of their assets.

Notes to editors

Diamond Transmission Partners is a consortium of Mitsubishi Corporation and HICL Infrastructure Company Limited.
Mari Energy Transmission is a consortium of Macquarie Capital Group Limited and Frontier Power Limited.
Transmission Capital Partners is a consortium of International Public Partnerships Limited and Transmission Capital Partners Limited Partnership.

The project information can be found on our website.

For further information, contact:

Chris Lock: 0207 901 7225

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

About Ofgem

Ofgem is the independent energy regulator for Great Britain. Its priority is to make a positive difference for consumers by promoting competition in the energy markets and regulating networks.

For facts, figures and information about Ofgem’s work, see Energy facts and figuresor visit the Ofgem Data Portal.