Eon has confirmed the sale of transmission assets at its 219MW Humber Gateway offshore wind farm to a consortium comprising Balfour Beatty Investments and Equitix.
The final price for the assets is £162.9m, Eon said.
The consortium was selected by Ofgem in September 2015 as the preferred bidder to own and operate the offshore transmission link.
Ofgem said today that it had granted Balfour Beatty Investments and Equitix a licence to operate the link.
The divestment is necessary due to regulatory requirements relating to the ownership of transmission and generation asset, Eon said.
Eon said the annual revenue required to cover the transmission network charges that Humber Gateway will pay for the next 20 years, will be proportionally the lowest among all previous offshore transmission owner (OFTO) transactions.
Balfour Beatty said it will invest £12.5m of the total required equity of £21m for the deal, while the European Investment Bank is providing an £82m 19-year loan.
The EIB loan is alongside senior debt provided by three commercial banks, Balfour Beatty added.
Balfour Beatty’s power transmission and distribution business will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the OFTO’s assets, including one offshore and one onshore substation and two cable circuits consisting of 18km of subsea and 30km of land cable.
Humber Gateway, which remains 100% owned by Eon, consists of 73 Vestas 3MW turbines located 8km off the Holderness coast.
It went into full operation in May 2015.
Image: Eon
