Balfour and Equitix to play key role in Humber Gateway windfarm

Consortium to own and operate transmission link to Humber Gateway windfarm

A consortium of Balfour Beatty and Equitix will own and operate the offshore transmission link to the Humber Gateway windfarm after being selected by Ofgem from a four-strong shortlist.

The 20-year contract covers transmission assets estimated to be worth £173.3m and are currently owned by E.ON Climate and Renewables UK Humber Wind which built them.

The Humber Gateway offshore wind farm, located in the North Sea approximately eight kilometres off the coast of East Yorkshire, comprises 73 wind turbines and has a total installed capacity of 220MW.

Construction giant Balfour Beatty has previously teamed up with Equitix, an independent infrastructure developer and fund manager, on a number of large-scale projects. Earler this year the consortium was selected to own and operate the Gwynt y Mor windfarm off the coast of north Wales.

The tender exercise run by Ofgem saw the lowest bids to date, judged as a proportion of asset value, demonstrating the value of using competition to drive down the costs of the networks for connecting offshore wind.