Ofgem has granted a 20-year licence to Transmission Capital Partners to own and operate the £297.9 million transmission link for the Dudgeon offshore windfarm.
The licence is the first to be awarded as part of the fifth offshore transmission owners (OFTO) tender round, which kicked off in September 2016.
Transmission Capital Partners – a consortium comprising International Public Partnerships, Amber Infrastructure Group and Transmission Investment – will acquire the connection from the owners of Dudgeon – another consortium consisting of Equinor, Masdar and China Resources.
The 402MW windfarm off the coast of Norfolk officially opened in November 2017.
Transmission Capital Partner was named as the preferred bidder for the transmission link at around the same time.
The company has now been granted OFTO licences for a total of seven offshore wind projects, the others being: Barrow, Gunfleet, Lincs, Ormonde, Robin Rigg and Westermost Rough.
Ofgem is also offering licences for the Race Bank, Walney Extension, Galloper and Rampion windfarms as part of the fifth tender round. The sixth and latest tender round covering the Hornsea One, Beatrice and East Anglia One projects began in October.
The regulator says winning bidders have taken ownership of the transmission connections for more than 5GW of offshore windfarms since the OFTO regime was launched in 2009, investing more than £3.3 billion as a result. Ofgem claims to have saved consumers at least £700 million over the first three tender rounds.