Offshore transmission tender

The British Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets Ofgem launched the second tender round for high-voltage transmission links worth around £1.9 billion for six offshore wind projects at an Ofgem conference for investors and wind farm developers, attended by the Energy Minister Charles Hendry MP from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

This is the second tender round in the offshore transmission regime, which is a joint policy initiative between DECC and Ofgem, to encourage cost-effective investment in the vital network links between the offshore windfarms and the mainland grid. Companies will be competing for the right to own and operate the links to 2.8 GW of offshore wind farms for the next 20 years.

Tenders for the first three projects, Gwynt-y-Mor, Lincs and London Array, have started. Tenders for the other three, Humber Gateway, Race Bank and West of Duddon Sands, are expected to start in Spring 2012 once they have met the necessary qualifying requirements.