Building on an already established regime for the awarding of offshore transmission licences in which over £2 billion of assets have been tendered for, Ofgem is now running a further tender competition for the transmission assets that connect the West of Duddon Sands wind farm to the onshore grid.
The transmission assets are being constructed by Scottish Power Renewables and DONG Energy who are developing the offshore site for the wind farm.
When constructed the wind farm is expected to have a capacity of 389 MW. The successful bidder in this tender will enter into a transfer agreement for the purchase of offshore transmission assets constructed by the developer to maintain and operate the assets in accordance with the offshore transmission licence and relevant industry codes, standards and agreements.
In addition to being granted the offshore transmission licence, the successful bidder will be required to enter into a range of agreements including with the relevant generator, any relevant distribution network owner and the National Electricity Transmission System Operator.
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Offshore WIND Staff, November 12, 2012; Image: Nexans