UK energy regulator Ofgem has selected the Balfour Beatty Equitix Consortium as the bidder to own and operate the high voltage transmission links to the Gwynt y Môr wind farm.
The 576MW wind farm, which has an estimated value of £346m, is currently the second largest project that has reached the tender stage.
Developed by RWE npower renewables, the wind farm features 160 wind turbines of 3.6MW Siemens SWT-3.6-107 each.
Gwynt y Môr is expected to produce 1,950GWh each year and power around 400,000 homes, or 40% of the homes in Wales.
The farm will also prevent the release of around 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, said Ofgem.
Gwynt y Môr wind farm will be situated close to the existing North Hoyle and Rhyl Flats offshore wind farms.
Planning approval for the project was granted on 3 December 2008, and construction began in 2011 with a final commissioning scheduled for 2014.
RWE Innogy, in collaboration with Stadtwerke München and Siemens AG, has funded the project.
Ofgem selected the consortium, which includes Balfour Beatty Investments and Equitix, through a competitive process, in which bidders can compete to become offshore transmission owners.
Tender round 3 (TR3), the next tender round for the project is expected to be launched later in 2013.
In August 2010, the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and Ofgem selected three bidders for operating the first £700m worth of transmission links to seven offshore wind farms.
The preferred bidders, Balfour Beatty Capital, Macquarie Capital Group and Transmission Capital Partners, will own and operate seven of the nine offshore transmission links in return for a 20-year regulated revenue stream.
Image: Offshore-Windpark North Hoyle (UK); Photo: courtesy of RWE Innogy.
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