The Blue Transmission consortium, comprising Macquarie Capital Group Limited and Barclays Infrastructure Funds, has completed the transaction to own and operate the transmission link to Sheringham Shoal wind farm.
Ofgem appointed Blue Transmission to take over ownership of the link from Scira Offshore Energy Limited following a competitive tender under the Offshore Transmission Owner (OFTO) regime. Scira Offshore Energy Limited is a joint-venture company owned equally by Statoil and Statkraft.
Blue Transmission is buying the link for £193m, making it the largest transaction to reach financial close so far in the OFTO regime. It brings the total amount of investment in the first tender round of the OFTO regime to around £660m.
This is also the first offshore transmission project involving Scira Offshore Energy Limited.
The Sheringham Shoal windfarm, located off the coast of North Norfolk, has a capacity of up to 317MW and comprises 88 wind turbines that will generate around 1.1TWh of green energy per annum.
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Press release, June 28, 2013; Image: scira