Isra-Mart srl: Balfour Beatty consortium bags £317m Greater Gabbard grid link

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Green Energy Transmission (GET) has been awarded preferred bidder status to own and operate the £316.6m high-voltage transmission link for the 500MW Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm off the Suffolk coast, bolstering Ofgem's first £1.1bn tender round for companies to run grid links.

The energy regulator today confirmed GET, a consortium comprising Equitix, AMP Capital Investors and Balfour Beatty Capital, as preferred bidder to become the Offshore Transmission Owners (OFTOs) for Greater Gabbard.

A spokesman from Ofgem told BusinessGreen it was hoping to reach financial close in spring next year, although the timetable depends on construction progress for both the link and turbines.

Last week, Scottish and Southern Energy, which owns Greater Gabbard in a 50:50 joint venture with RWE npower renewables, said the completion date could be delayed as a result of ongoing contractual issues with its principal contractor Flour.

Following the initial OFTO process last year, Greater Gabbard's transmission tender was re-run because the bids from the competitors were too close to select a clear winner.

If GET fails to tie up the agreement, the reserve bidder for Greater Gabbard is Transmission Capital Partners, a consortium of Transmission Capital, Amber Infrastructure and International Public Partnerships.

Ofgem E-Serve's managing director of the commercial division, Robert Hull, said the deal will mark an important milestone for the offshore transmission regime, especially as Equitix and AMP Capital Investors are new to the OFTO regime.

"The introduction of two new investors provides further evidence that the OFTO regime can deliver the billions of pounds of investment required to deliver the UK's renewable targets and cost savings for customers and developers," he said.

"We now look forward to working with the developer and preferred bidder to ensure the OFTO is in place as soon as possible."