Ofgem grants licence for Transmission Capital Partners to own link to Westermost Rough Windfarm
Press release
Publication date
Industry sector
Offshore Transmission Network
Ofgem has granted a licence to Transmission Capital Partners to own and operate the £156.7m high voltage link to the Westermost Rough windfarm.
The 210MW windfarm is around eight kilometres off the coast of Yorkshire. Transmission Capital Partners, a consortium comprising Transmission Capital Partners Limited Partnership and International Public Partnerships Limited, was chosen by Ofgem after a tender process in which bidders competed to become offshore transmission owners (OFTOs).
The Westermost Rough transmission assets were tendered under round three of the OFTO scheme. Since the scheme was launched in 2009, it has delivered £2.7 bn investment. Tendering reduces the costs of connecting offshore wind farms and the regime has already saved consumers between £200m and £400m as a result of Tender Round One.
Ofgem expects to complete the licence grant for the Humber Gateway OFTO (the remaining project in tender round three) this summer. Ofgem also expects to launch tender rounds four and five later this year.
Notes to editors
Ofgem and DECC launched the offshore transmission regime in 2009. It uses competitive tendering for licensing offshore electricity transmission systems.
Westermost Rough has now reached financial close where the wind farm developer completes the sale of the offshore transmission system to the OFTO. Once all the projects in the first three tender rounds have reached financial close and been granted OFTO licences, around 4.4GW of electricity will have been connected to the national grid
More information can be found on the offshore transmission regime pages.
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 figures.
Follow us on Twitter @ofgem
For further press information contact:
Chris Lock: 0207 901 7225
Out of hours: 07766 511470