Six bidders shortlisted for Dudgeon, Rampion and Race Bank offshore wind links
Ofgem has announced shortlists of bidders competing to own and operate transmission links to the Dudgeon, Rampion and Race Bank wind farms off the coasts of Norfolk and Sussex (UK), totalling 1,375 MW. The following 6 bidders have been shortlisted:
- Dudgeon: Statoil, Statkraft, Masdar
- Balfour Beatty Investments.
- Equitix.
- Diamond Transmission Partners: Mitsubishi Corporation and HICL Infrastructure Company Limited.
- Mari Energy Transmission. Macquarie Capital Group Limited and Frontier Power Limited
- Transmission Capital Partners: International Public Partnerships Limited and Transmission Capital Partners LP.
The 400-MW Rampion offshore wind farm Located between 13 to 25 kilometres (8 to 16 mi) from the shore, would lie off the coast of the towns of Worthing and Shoreham-by-Sea to the west, the city of Brighton and Hove in the centre and the towns of Newhaven and Seaford in the east.
The 565 MW Race Bank Offshore Wind Farm consists of 91 6.3MW turbines and an overall capacity of 565 MW. It is located in the North Sea, 27km north of Blakeney point off the coast of Norfolk, and 28kms east of Chapel St. Leonards off the coast of Lincolnshire. The transmission assets will connect at the Wapole 400kV substation near King’s Lynn. The farm is 100% indirectly owned by DONG Energy.
The Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm will be constructed with 67 wind turbines SWT-6.0-154 (Siemens), each with a capacity of 6 MW, totaling 402 MW installed generation capacity. The annual energy production is estimated to be 1.7 TWh. The North Sea project site is located 32 km offshore, north of the town of Cromer in North Norfolk, and 20 km north-east of the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm.
The three links are the first of five to be tendered under the fifth round of the Offshore Transmission Owner (OFTO) regime. The fifth round has an estimated value of £2 billion (US$2.48 billion) and will connect 2.3GW of generation capacity, making it the biggest tender round to date.
