UK energy regulator Ofgem has kicked off a tender to own the transmission assets for the 1218MW Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm off the east coast of England.
The tender for Orsted’s Hornsea 1 grid link is the sixth round of the OFTO process and will also cover the SSE-led 588MW Beatrice project off Scotland and ScottishPower Renewables’ 714MW East Anglia 1 scheme off east England.
The Beatrice and EA1 OFTO tenders will open at the end of October, Ofgem said.
Ofgem executive director for systems and networks Jonathan Brearley said: “Tendering ownership of links to offshore wind farms has already proven to be a successful way of connecting cleaner electricity generation to the networks at a lower cost for consumers.
“It is also a boost for competition as it attracts new players into the energy market. Over the next decade we plan to open up high value onshore grid upgrades to competition so that we continue to drive down network costs for consumers.”
OFTOs take control of export infrastructure and operate it independently of the wind farm owner.