Balfour Beatty, Equitix win bidding for 220-MW offshore wind farm link in UK

A consortium of UK infrastructure group Balfour Beatty Plc (LON:BBY) and fund manager Equitix Ltd has been selected by the UK's energy regulator to own and operate the link to the 220-MW Humber Gateway offshore wind farm for the next 20 years.

Ofgem said on Thursday it has appointed Balfour Beatty Equitix Consortium as the preferred bidder to become offshore transmission owner (OFTO) for the wind farm off the East Yorkshire coast. The transmission assets, whose value is estimated at GBP 173.3 million (USD 264.6m/EUR 236m), have been built and are currently owned by E.on Climate and Renewables UK Humber Wind Ltd.

The reserve bidder is Transmission Capital Partners, a consortium of Transmission Capital Partners LP and International Public Partnerships Ltd.

Ofgem said the announcement completed the procurement of Tender Round 3 projects, which besides Humber Gateway also include the power link for the 210-MW Westermost Rough wind farm. Transmission Capital Partners was picked as a preferred bidder for the latter in May.

The next tender rounds, Tender Round 4 and Tender Round 5, are expected to be launched in the first half of 2016 and in 2017, respectively. The two rounds together are likely to include up to six OFTO projects.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.527/EUR 1.362)

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