UK: WFW Advises DONG on Transmission Assets Divestment at Walney 2 OWF

Watson, Farley & Williams (WFW), a leading international law firm, has announced that it advised DONG Energy on the sale of the transmission system assets relating to the Walney 2 offshore wind farm project to Blue Transmission Walney 2 Limited for approximately £110 million. Financial close occurred on 26 September 2012, with asset transfer and completion occurring on 4 October 2012.

The purchaser is a special purpose vehicle of a consortium comprising Macquarie Capital Group Limited and Barclays Integrated Infrastructure Fund.

As part of the sale, an operation and maintenance agreement was entered into for the transmission assets, on which Watson, Farley & Williams also advised.

The sale is part of a new regulatory regime for offshore electricity transmission, whereby offshore transmission links are sold by the offshore generators to an Offshore Transmission Owner (“OFTO”) as part of a competitive tender process run by Ofgem, the UK regulator of the gas and electricity markets.

The Walney 2 wind farm is located approximately 15km west of Walney Island and 18km from Barrow-in-Furness, off the Cumbrian coast in northwest England, and has a total capacity of 184 MW. It was commissioned in April 2012.

The WFW London team was led by partner and head of Energy, Evan Stergoulis, and Corporate partner Nick Fothergill, with property advice provided by Real Estate partner Gary Ritter. The team also included assistants Ravinder Sandhu (Corporate), Simon Alsey and Michael Kruger (Project, Commodities and Export Finance).

WFW London partner Nick Fothergill said: “We have now advised DONG Energy on four of the first six completed sales of transmission assets under the new OFTO regime. This illustrates our significant experience of working on these innovative transactions and highlights our position as an adviser of choice in the offshore wind sector.” 

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Press release, November 23, 2012; Image: DONG Energy