Ofgem has granted a licence to a subsidiary of Diamond Transmission Partners to own and operate the £194 million offshore grid connection for the Burbo Bank Extension wind farm.
The consortium, consisting of the Mitsubishi Corporation and the HICL Infrastructure Company, was chosen by the regulator in the fourth round of competitive tenders under the offshore transmission owners (OFTO) regime.
Its subsidiary has purchased the link and associated transmission assets from the consortium which owns the Burbo Bank Extension, comprising Orsted, Kirkbi and PKA. The wind farm in Liverpool Bay was officially opened in May last year.
Ofgem released a shortlist of the five bidders competing for the licence in September 2016 before announcing Diamond Transmission Partners as the preferred owner the following July.
Since the government and Ofgem launched the OFTO scheme in 2009, winning bidders have so far connected 4.6GW of offshore wind farms to the power grid, investing a total £3 billion in the process.
Ofgem is also running a fifth round of tenders, worth £1.9 billion, which began in September 2016. It covers five offshore wind projects with a total capacity of 2.4GW: Dudgeon, Race Bank, Galloper, Rampion and the Walney Extension.
The regulator expects to launch a sixth round later this year.