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 are currently owned by Dong Energy (50 per cent), Marubeni Corporation (25 per cent) and the UK Green Investment Bank (25 per cent), and were tendered under round three of the OFTO scheme.
The reserve bidder for the project is Blue Transmission – a consortium of 3i Investments and Mitsubishi Corporation.
Ofgem said the tendering process reduces the cost of connecting offshore windfarms and claimed the regime has already saved consumers between £200 million and £400 million as a result of Tender Round One.
The regulator expects to complete the licence grant for the Humber Gateway OFTO (the remaining project in tender round three) this summer, and will launch tender rounds four and five later this year.
The Westermost Rough offshore wind farm is located in the UK North Sea, approximately 8km off the east coast of Yorkshire. The offshore construction began in 2014.
In August 2014, the first turbine was erected and first power was generated in September 2014. Full power output was achieved in May 2015.
The farm’s 35 Siemens 6MW wind turbines have a capacity of 210MW and ensure clean renewable energy for more than 150,000 UK households.