Ofgem appoints preferred bidder for Burbo Bank Extension offshore transmission assets

Press release

Publication date

Industry sector

Offshore Transmission Network

Today Ofgem has appointed Diamond Transmission Partners (DTP) as the preferred bidder to own and operate the offshore transmission link to the Burbo Bank Extension windfarm for the next 20 years. This completes the procurement process of Tender Round 4 of the offshore transmission owner (OFTO) regime.

DTP, a consortium comprising Mitsubishi Corporation and HICL Infrastructure Company Limited, was selected by Ofgem through a process in which bidders compete to become OFTOs. Tender Round 4 saw the lowest bids to date as a proportion of the asset value. This further demonstrates the value of continuing to use competitive tendering to provide the best value for consumers.  

The Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm is located in the Liverpool Bay. It has a capacity of 258MW and consists of 32 turbines. The wind farm will power 230,000 UK homes using renewable energy. The estimated value of the transmission assets is £180.6 million*. A consortium of DONG Energy A/S, KIRKBI A/S, and PKA currently owns the transmission assets for the project.

Notes to editors

*This figure 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.

  1. The reserve bidder for the project is Transmission Capital Partners, a consortium of International Public Partnerships Limited and Transmission Capital Partners Limited Partnership.
  2. 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 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.
  3. Ofgem is also running Tender Round 5. This started in September 2016 and consists of five projects: Dudgeon, Race Bank, Walney Extension, Galloper and Rampion. Each project has now completed the enhanced pre-qualification stage and the invitation to tender stage for Dudgeon started in April 2017. The ITT stages for the rest of the projects take place over the next 12 months.
  4. The official public notice for the appointment of DTP as the preferred bidder to own and operate the link to the Burbo Bank Extension windfarm.

For further information, contact:

Chris Lock: 0207 901 7225

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

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