Transmission Partners confirmed as link owner for world's largest offshore wind farm

UK energy regulator Ofgem has confirmed Transmission Partners Hornsea One Limited as the new owner of transmission assets connecting the 1.2 GW Hornsea One offshore wind project to the East Yorkshire coast.

Hornsea One is the only 1 GW-plus offshore wind farm in the world, and at 120 km it is also the furthest offshore. Owned 50/50 by Orsted and Global Infrastructure Partners, the wind farm entered full operation in early 2020.

The new OFTO (offshore transmission owner) for Hornsea One is a consortium of Mitsubishi Corporation and Chubu Electric Power, Ofgem said March 2.

The Final Transfer Value of the transmission assets was put at GBP1.175 billion ($1.641 billion), including three offshore substations, one onshore substation, three buried offshore export cable circuits with an average route length of 145 km, and three onshore export cables of 38 km.

The UK government is unusual in requiring offshore wind farm developers to build both wind farm and transmission connections, before the transmission assets are sold on in the competitive OFTO process.

Some 20 operational OFTOs have been put in place worth GBP4.6 billion in total since the regime was put in place in 2009.

Ofgem, which recently consulted on updating the regime, says independent reports have shown "significant savings for consumers from the competition for licenses under the OFTO regime."

The UK has around 10 GW of offshore wind generation connected to the electricity system. In October 2020 the government raised its offshore wind target from 30 GW to 40 GW by 2030. The Committee on Climate Change has indicated that to become a net zero economy the UK could require 75 GW by 2050.