The contract is part of the Offshore Transmission Owners (OFTO) regulatory regime. Ownership of the Great Gabbard OFTO is worth an estimated £317m to Balfour Beatty Capital, Equitix and AMP Capital, which each hold a one third equal share of the project.
After financial close Balfour Beatty will jointly own the 504MW offshore high-voltage transmission asset and will be responsible for operation and maintenance as well as connecting the wind farm to the onshore electricity grid. The OFTO will carry out its responsibilities through a 20-year licence awarded by the regulator Ofgem.
This is the final and the largest project to be awarded in the first transitional round comprising nine OFTO assets. Combined with the Thanet offshore wind farm asset, Greater Gabbard gives Balfour Beatty the leading investor position in this new and growing market, with responsibility for £480m of OFTO transmission assets with a combined transmission capacity of 804MW.
Balfour Beatty has also recently been selected by Ofgem to participate in the next round of bidding for three more OFTO assets which have a combined capital value of c£1.0 billion.
Balfour Beatty chief executive Ian Tyler said: "Greater Gabbard is a significant step in the development of our non-PPP infrastructure investment business as well as our wider strategy of developing our delivery capability in the offshore renewables industry. It firmly places Balfour Beatty in a leading position within the fast growing and potentially very large offshore transmission markets, and provides a stable long term income stream to the group."
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
