Offshore transmission owner

Offshore Transmission Owners (OFTOs) operate and maintain offshore electric power transmission infrastructure in Great Britain, delivering electrical power from offshore wind farms to the National Grid. OFTOs may design and build this transmission infrastructure, but in most cases wind farm developers construct the electrical transmission assets and then sell them to an OFTO once complete.[1][2][3][4]

Operation

In the British electricity market, different functions of the electricity system are separated, with this practice beginning in the 1980s. The activities of generators, transmission operators, system operators, distribution operators and suppliers are separately licensed by Ofgem, with a single business unable to perform multiple functions due to UK Competition Law.[5]

The groundwork for the offshore transmission regime was laid by the Energy Act 2004, with the first offshore transmission license being awarded in 2011. As of 2021, all the offshore transmission infrastructure in Great Britain has been built by wind farm developers, who are then required to sell their transmission assets to a separately licensed Offshore Transmission Owner. The divestment must take place before the Generator Commissioning Clause date, on which the exemption from this requirement lapses.[5]

Divestment is managed via a regulated tender process administered by the energy regulator Ofgem. Qualifying bidders are required to conduct due diligence before submitting a bid to purchase the assets for transfer value determined by Ofgem and receive their bid Tender Revenue Stream (TRS) for a fixed license period. Ofgem then appoints a Preferred Bidder who negotiates the purchase terms with the Developer, after which Ofgem awards a transmission license and the transfer takes place.

Offshore transmission operators

Windfarm Developer Capacity (MW) Final Transfer Value (£m) OFTO License Award Date
Tender Round 1
Robin Rigg E.ON 180 65.5 Transmission Capital Partners 2 March 2011
Gunfleet Sands Ørsted 173 49.5 Transmission Capital Partners 19 July 2011
Barrow Ørsted and Centrica 90 33.6 Transmission Capital Partners 27 September 2011
Walney 1 Ørsted, SSE and OPW 184 105.4 Blue Transmission 21 October 2011
Ormonde Vattenfall 150 103.9 Transmission Capital Partners 10 July 2012
Walney 2 Ørsted, SSE and OPW 184 109.8 Blue Transmission 26 September 2012
Sheringham Shoal Scira 315 193.1 Blue Transmission 27 June 2013
Greater Gabbard SSE and RWE 504 317.1 Equitix Group 26 November 2013
Thanet Vattenfall 300 164.8 Balfour Beatty 17 December 2014
Tender Round 2
London Array Ørsted, E.on and Masdar 630 444 Blue Transmission 10 September 2013
Lincs Ørsted, Centrica, and Siemens 270 307.7 Transmission Capital Partners 4 November 2014  
Gwynt y Môr RWE, Stadewerke München and Siemens 574 351.9 Balfour Beatty 11 February 2015
West of Duddon Sands Ørsted and Scottish Power Renewables 388 268.9 West of Duddon Sands Transmission Plc 19 August 2015.
Tender Round 3
Westermost Rough Ørsted, Marubeni and GIB 205 172.3 Transmission Capital Partners 3 February 2016
Humber Gateway E.ON 219 173.3 Balfour Beatty September 2016
Tender Round 4
Burbo Bank Ørsted 258 193.9 Diamond Transmission Partners 25 April 2018
Tender Round 5
Dudgeon Equinor 402 297.9 Transmission Capital Partners 5 November 2018  
Race Bank Ørsted 573 472.5 Diamond Transmission Partners 9 October 2019
Galloper RWE 340 281.8 Diamond Transmission Partners 24 February 2020
Walney Extension Ørsted 600 446.6 Diamond Transmission Partners 1 June 2020
Rampion E.ON 400 279.5 Transmission Capital Partners & International Public Partnerships Limited 12 November 2021
Tender Round 6
Hornsea One Ørsted 1218 1170 Diamond Transmission Partners 1 March 2021
Beatrice SSE, Red Rock Power Ltd, The Renewables Infrastructure Group and Equitix 588 437.9 Transmission Capital Partners 27 July 2021
East Anglia One ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall 714 692.6 Transmission Capital Partners 15 December 2022
Tender Round 7 (in progress)
Moray East Diamond Green Limited, Moray Offshore Renewable Power Limited, Delphis Holdings Limited, China Three Gorges Limited 900 666.1 Transmission Capital Partners 15th February 2024
Triton Knoll RWE Renewables, J-Power, Kansai 857 572.7 ETEPCO
Tender Round 8 (in progress)
Hornsea Two Ørsted 1,368 1141.2 Diamond Transmission Partners
Tender Round 9 (in progress)
Seagreen Phase 1 Seagreen Wind Energy Limited 1,140 ETEPCO (preferred bidder)
Tender Round 10 (in progress)
Moray West Moray Offshore Windfarm (West) Limited 882
Neart Na Gaoithe Neart na Gaoithe Offshore Wind Limited 448
Dogger Bank A DBA Projco 1,200 ETEPCO (preferred bidder)
Tender Round 11 (in progress)
Dogger Bank B DBB Projco 1,200

[6]

References

  1. ^ "Offshore transmission". ofgem.gov.uk.
  2. ^ "Practical Law UK Signon". uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com.
  3. ^ Essential EU Climate Law, edited by Edwin Woerdman, Martha Roggenkamp, Marijn Holwerda, ISBN 1783470585
  4. ^ Economics of Offshore Wind Power: Challenges and Policy Considerations By Rahmatallah Poudineh, Craig Brown, Benjamin Foley, ISBN 3319664204
  5. ^ a b "The OFTO Regime: A Retrospective". WFW. 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
  6. ^ "Offshore Electricity Transmission (OFTO) - Offshore transmission tenders and projects".
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