By granting West of Duddon Sands (WoDS) Transmission plc a licence to own and operate the £269 million transmission link to the West of Duddon Sands offshore wind farm, the total new transmission investment delivered by the OFTO regime to date is over £2.5 billion, of which nearly £1 billion has now been delivered through the capital markets, Ofgem reported.
WoDS becomes the fourth and final offshore transmission project to reach financial close and licence grant in tender round two of the regime. The second tender round has delivered £1.4 billion of transmission assets, connecting 1.9GW of offshore wind.
Dermot Nolan, Ofgem chief executive , said: “With the licence granted for West of Duddon Sands, the OFTO regime has attracted over £2.5 billion of new investment into the UK transmission sector to date. The regulatory frameworks devised by Ofgem are key to attracting the new investment needed to extend grid networks to connect renewable energy projects, and to enable planned interconnectors with European partners to be built. This model is helping drive down costs for consumers.”
WoDS Transmission plc is owned by Macquarie Corporate Holdings Pty Limited and 3i Infrastructure plc. It was selected by Ofgem through a competitive process, in which bidders compete to become OFTOs, and will now own and operate the link for the next 20 years.
The project is supported by the EIB’s Project Bond Credit Enhancement product. This financing approach opens up investment in the OFTO regime to a wider range of investors, helping to drive down the costs for consumers of connecting offshore wind farms to the onshore grid.
Image: ScottishPower Renewables