Ofgem opens bidding to own and operate £4billion worth of electricity links plugging Great Britain into homegrown North Sea power

Press release
Publication date
Industry sector
Transmission Network

Ofgem is inviting tenders to own and operate the prebuilt electricity transmission link connecting one of the world’s biggest offshore wind farms to Great Britain’s mainland energy network. 

Ofgem has opened the OFTO (Offshore Transmission Owner) regime Tender Round 12 which invites bids from investors to own and operate infrastructure connecting RWE’s Sofia wind farm to the onshore electricity grid in North Yorkshire.  

Located 195km off Britain’s Northeast coastline in the North Sea, the 1.4 GW wind farm can power almost 1.2m homes. It connects to the onshore electricity transmission network via electricity transmission assets including cables and both offshore and onshore converter stations and substations, which help harness the homegrown energy and transport it to millions of British homes.    

The Ofgem-run tendering process is designed to keep costs down for consumers while also providing attractive investment opportunities. Since its launch in 2009, OFTO has seen winning bidders invest over £11billion in links connecting 27 offshore wind farms. As the race to achieve clean power intensifies, Ofgem anticipates bringing on average £6billion of OFTO assets to market each year in the run up to 2030.   

Beatrice Filkin, Ofgem Director of Major Projects said:   

“Connecting offshore wind farms such as Sofia helps harness the power of the North Sea to keep the lights on and deliver homegrown energy to British consumers.  

“OFTO is part of Ofgem’s work to attract investors into the UK to boost growth and build a stable and secure energy system to deliver clean power to people’s homes.   

“As well as successfully attracting the investment needed to upgrade our energy system, OFTO also ensures that we as regulator deliver a good deal for consumers and keep bills as low as possible.  

Later this year Ofgem plans to launch Tender Round 13, anticipated to be its biggest tender round to date comprising transmission assets for the following three windfarms:  

  • Dogger Bank C   

Located 196km offshore, Dogger Bank C, has a generation capacity of 1.2GW. It forms part of the world’s largest windfarm (also comprising Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B) which will have an installed capacity of 3.6GW capable of powering up to 6 million homes a year.  

  • Inch Cape   

One of Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms, it comprises 72 turbines located 15km off the Angus Coast in the North Sea and has a generation capacity of almost 1.1GW   

  • East Anglia 3  

Located 69km from the East Anglian coast in the southern North Sea, the wind farm could generate up to 1.4GW with the potential to power over 1.3m homes. The array forms part of the East Anglia Hub windfarms.   

 

Notes to editors  

Ofgem’s offshore transmission (OFTO) regime underpins the government’s renewable energy targets by connecting homegrown offshore wind generation at least cost to consumers.   

The competitive OFTO tender process ensures that offshore wind generators are partnered with responsible transmission owners that are the most efficient and competitive players in the market. This means lower costs and high standards of service for generators and, ultimately, consumers.  

Tender rounds, projects and licences 

We run the competitive tendering process through tender rounds. Within a tender round we will assess bids and grant offshore transmission licences to bidders for specific transmission assets connected to offshore wind farms around Great Britain. The transmission assets are in parallel sold from the developer to the successful bidder.  

Since Ofgem and Government launched the OFTO regime in 2009 winning bidders have so far invested over £11billion in links connecting 27 offshore wind farms. As larger wind farms are developed further from shore, the average value of OFTO assets is set to increase, meaning as much as £30bn of OFTO assets could come to market by 2030.  

For more on the OFTO regime visit Offshore Electricity Transmission (OFTO) | Ofgem.