E.ON has signed an agreement for the sale of transmission assets at its Humber Gateway offshore wind farm to a consortium comprising Balfour Beatty Investments and Equitix .
The final sale price for the transmission assets is GBP 162.9 million.
The annual revenue required to cover the transmission network charges that E.ON’s Humber Gateway will pay for the next 20 years, will be proportionally the lowest amongst all previous Offshore Transmission Owner (OFTO)transactions. Therefore, it is the most competitive OFTO assets disposal for an offshore wind farm developer in the UK to date, E.ON said.
Balfour Beatty Investments and Equitix were selected by Ofgem in September 2015 as the preferred bidder to own and operate the offshore transmission link. The divestment is necessary due to regulatory requirements relating to the ownership of transmission and generation asset.
The Humber Gateway wind farm, which remains fully owned by E.ON, has 73 turbines located 8km off the Holderness coast and went into full operation in May 2015. It has a capacity of 219MW, which is enough electricity to power 170,000 homes or around one and a half times the size of Hull.