The U.K. Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, or Ofgem, selected Transmission Capital Partners as the preferred bidder in a tender for a transmission line to connect the 588-MW Beatrice offshore wind project to the power grid.

Ofgem, the U.K.'s energy regulator, said the preferred bidder must first resolve certain conditions before successfully securing a contract.

The preferred bidder must establish required arrangements to provide offshore transmission services for the project, place a bilateral agreement with the holder of a coordination license to provide transmission services, accede to the system operator-transmission owner code, and resolve other matters the authority deems necessary for the project.

Transmission Capital Partners is a joint venture company of Transmission Investment and International Public Partnerships Ltd., an investment fund of Amber Infrastructure Group. With the Beatrice project, it has been granted nine offshore transmission connections in the U.K., though the Beatrice connection is its first in Scotland.

The wind project's developer, Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd., comprises three partners: SSE PLC, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners K/S, and Red Rock Power Partners LLC. The offshore wind facility was completed earlier this year at a capital cost of about £2.5 billion.