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.[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

WindfarmDeveloperCapacity (MW)Final Transfer Value (£m)OFTO License Award Date
Tender Round 1
Robin RiggE.ON18065.5Transmission Capital Partners 2 March 2011
Gunfleet SandsØrsted17349.5Transmission Capital Partners 19 July 2011
BarrowØrsted and Centrica9033.6Transmission Capital Partners 27 September 2011
Walney 1Ørsted, SSE and OPW184105.4Blue Transmission 21 October 2011
OrmondeVattenfall150103.9Transmission Capital Partners 10 July 2012
Walney 2Ørsted, SSE and OPW184109.8Blue Transmission 26 September 2012
Sheringham ShoalScira315193.1Blue Transmission 27 June 2013
Greater GabbardSSE and RWE504317.1Equitix Group 26 November 2013
ThanetVattenfall300164.8Balfour Beatty 17 December 2014
Tender Round 2
London ArrayØrsted, E.on and Masdar630444Blue Transmission 10 September 2013
LincsØrsted, Centrica, and Siemens270307.7Transmission Capital Partners 4 November 2014  
Gwynt y MôrRWE, Stadewerke München and Siemens574351.9Balfour Beatty 11 February 2015
West of Duddon SandsØrsted and Scottish Power Renewables388268.9West of Duddon Sands Transmission Plc 19 August 2015.
Tender Round 3
Westermost RoughØrsted, Marubeni and GIB205172.3Transmission Capital Partners 3 February 2016
Humber GatewayE.ON219173.3Balfour Beatty September 2016
Tender Round 4
Burbo BankØrsted258193.9Diamond Transmission Partners 25 April 2018
Tender Round 5
DudgeonStatoil402297.9Transmission Capital Partners 5 November 2018  
Race BankØrsted573472.5Diamond Transmission Partners 9 October 2019
GalloperRWE340281.8Diamond Transmission Partners 24 February 2020
Walney ExtensionØrsted600446.6Diamond Transmission Partners 1 June 2020
RampionE.ON400279.5Transmission Capital Partners & International Public Partnerships Limited12 November 2021
Tender Round 6
Hornsea OneØrsted12181170Diamond Transmission Partners 1 March 2021
BeatriceSSE, Red Rock Power Ltd, The Renewables Infrastructure Group and Equitix588437.9Transmission Capital Partners 27 July 2021
East Anglia OneScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall714692.6Transmission Capital Partners15 December 2022
Tender Round 7 (in progress)
Moray EastDiamond Green Limited, Moray Offshore Renewable Power Limited, Delphis Holdings Limited, China Three Gorges Limited900
Triton KnollRWE Renewables, J-Power, Kansai857576.8 (indicative)ETEPCO (preferred bidder)
Tender Round 8 (in progress)
Hornsea TwoØrsted1,368
Tender Round 9 (in progress)
Seagreen Phase 1Seagreen Wind Energy Limited1,140
Tender Round 10 (in progress)
Moray WestMoray Offshore Windfarm (West) Limited882
Neart Na GaoitheNeart na Gaoithe Offshore Wind Limited448
Dogger Bank ADBA Projco1,200

[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. 1 2 "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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