First offshore transmission licence awarded

Financial close of Robin Rigg OFTO announced.

Transmission Capital Partners, the consortium comprising Transmission Capital, International Public Partnerships Limited and Amber Infrastructure has achieved financial close for the Robin Rigg offshore transmission project. This is the first Offshore Transmission Owner (OFTO) Licence to be awarded under the competitive tender process managed by energy regulator Ofgem for the licensing of high voltage links with offshore wind farms in GB.

The project relates to the connection of the Robin Rigg offshore wind farm located in the Solway Firth, 12km off the coast of Cumbria. The OFTO assets comprise the onshore substation and undersea cables connecting the 180MW capacity offshore wind farm with the onshore grid network. The OFTO Licence will be held by a newly created company, TC Robin Rigg OFTO Ltd, which has acquired the £65 million link from the wind farm owner, E.ON.

The Transmission Capital consortium has been awarded preferred bidder status for a further three OFTO projects in the inaugural tender round which, together with Robin Rigg, have an investment value of over £250 million. The consortium is also currently shortlisted for a fifth project in the first tender round which is expected to be awarded in the next month or so.

Further OFTO opportunities with a total investment value of up to £14 billion are expected over the next nine years. The Transmission Capital consortium was recently announced as having pre-qualified for the first three projects in the second tender round, with a total investment value in excess of £1 billion.