Keen interest in £1.15bn UK transmission assets

13 bidders have been selected to take part in an auction for over £1.15 billion (€1.25 billion; $1.8 billion) of electricity transmission assets in the UK.

The tender process, which is being handled by UK energy regulator Ofgem, will see the firms bid to own and operate nine high-voltage electricity links with offshore windfarms. The nine projects have a combined asset value of over £1.15 billion and combined capacity of 2,064 megawatts.

Ofcom said in a statement over £15 billion of total investment is required in the UK’s transmission links to offshore windfarms.

Transmission assets:13 bidders in the running

The 13 bidders for the assets are ABN Amro Infrastructure Capital Management, Balfour Beatty Capital, DONG Energy Sales and Distribution, Equitix/ AMP, ESB International, Frontier Power/ Infracapital Partners, Imera, Macquarie Capital Group, National Grid Offshore, RWE Npower, SSE Offshore Transmission, Stakraft UK/ StatoilHydro UK Holdings and International Public Partnerships/ Transmission Capital/ Amber Infrastructure Limited.

Only one of the nine assets, located off Barrow, is currently operational. One of the assets still in development, the 504-megawatt Greater Gabbard project, being developed by SSE/Airtricity and RWE Innogy, has the highest estimated value of the assets, at £344 million.

Winning bidders for the assets are expected to be selected in March or April next year.

A second round of contracts is then set to be put out to tender next summer.