London Array, a joint venture owned by DONG Energy (50%), E.ON (30%) and Masdar (20%), announced that it has signed an agreement for the sale of transmission assets at the world’s largest offshore wind farm to Blue Transmission London Array Limited.
The divestment takes place pursuant to the Offshore Transmission Owner (OFTO) regime. Following a competitive tender, Blue Transmission London Array Limited was in September 2012 selected by Ofgem as preferred bidder for the London Array offshore transmission licence.
With an asset value of GBP 459 million (DKK 4.1 billion) for the entire transmission assets, this is the largest transaction to date in the OFTO regime. The divestment is expected to close later this month.
Blue Transmission London Array Limited is the licensee entity incorporated by the consortium of Barclays Infrastructure Funds Management Limited and Diamond UK Transmission Corporation (a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation), advised by Macquarie Capital.
London Array has been selected by Blue Transmission London Array Limited to provide operations and maintenance services to the transmission link connecting the London Array Offshore Wind Farm to the onshore grid.
London Array is located around 20 km off the coasts of Kent and Essex on a 100km2 site. Its 175 Siemens 3.6MW turbines have a combined capacity of 630MW and are expected to produce enough electricity to power over half a million UK homes each year.
DONG Energy has previously entered into agreements for divestment of the transmission assets for Walney 1, Walney 2, Barrow, and Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm.
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Press release, September 10, 2013; Image: londonarray