The Gwynt y Môr OFTO was previously operated by Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm. Balfour Beatty will jointly own Gwynt y Môr OFTO with Equitix. Balfour Beatty will invest £28m of equity, which represents 60% of equity required.

By Ritesh Gupta

Companies mentioned: Balfour Beatty, Gwynt y Môr offshore transmission project (OFTO), Equitix, Thanet offshore transmission project (Thanet OFTO), Dong Energy, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind, Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm, BlackRock (Infrastructure Investment Group), Hereford Wind Project, EDF Renewable Energy, AT&F (American Tank & Fabricating), Lake Erie Energy Development, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

Balfour Beatty reaches financial close on OFTO project

Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty has completed its acquisition of the £352m Gwynt y Môr offshore transmission project (OFTO) in the UK.

The company reached financial close last week. The Gwynt y Môr OFTO was previously operated by Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm. Balfour Beatty will jointly own Gwynt y Môr OFTO with Equitix. Balfour Beatty will invest £28m of equity, which represents 60% of equity required.

To date, Balfour Beatty has achieved financial close on three OFTO projects and now has responsibility for OFTO transmission assets worth £833m with a combined transmission capacity of 1380 MW.

The Gwynt y Môr OFTO is the high-voltage electricity transmission system connecting the 576MW offshore wind farm, in North Wales, to the onshore transmission grid. The assets include three substations – two offshore and one onshore - and over 80km of subsea cables. Balfour Beatty’s Services division is responsible for the assets’ operations and maintenance under a licence granted by Ofgem with a 20-year revenue stream.

In another development, Balfour Beatty announced the disposal of an 80% interest in the Thanet offshore transmission project (Thanet OFTO) for £40m.

Thanet OFTO is the high-voltage electricity transmission system connecting the 300MW Thanet Wind Farm, off the coast of Kent, to the onshore transmission grid. Assets include one offshore and one onshore substation and over 50km of subsea cables which are operated and maintained by Balfour Beatty’s Services division under a 20-year licence granted by the energy regulator Ofgem.

The 80% interest in Thanet OFTO is being acquired by funds managed by Equitix.

Dong Energy, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind strengthen ties

Dong Energy has chosen MHI Vestas Offshore Wind as preferred supplier for the proposed delivery of the V164-8.0MW wind turbine for phase 1 of the Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm.

The Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm has a maximum capacity of 660MW and is located approximately 19km off the English east coast, next to the 367.2MW Walney Offshore Wind Farm.

Walney Extension has already been awarded a contract for difference under the EMR FID-enabling regime and, in November 2014, the project was granted consent by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Offshore construction of the wind farm could potentially start in 2016. However, DONG Energy has not taken a final investment decision to build the offshore wind farm.

With this move, the Danish energy company and MHI Vestas Offshore Wind have strengthened their ties. The two entities already have an agreement for the supply of the V164-8.0MW turbine to the Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm.

BlackRock strengthens its wind energy portfolio

A fund managed by BlackRock’s Infrastructure Investment Group has purchased a 50% interest in the 200 MW Hereford Wind Project, located in Deaf Smith County, Texas from EDF Renewable Energy.

BlackRock and EDF Renewable Energy have also signed agreements to enter into similar partnerships on the Longhorn (200 MW) and Spinning Spur 3 (194 MW) projects upon completion later this year.

This is the 16th transaction completed to date by BlackRock Infrastructure in the renewables space, bringing the total invested portfolio to approximately 615MW of wind.

The Hereford Project will interconnect to the recently completed Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ) transmission infrastructure, which enables delivery of long-term, clean, competitively priced power from the strong renewable resource regions of West Texas to the rest of Texas. The Hereford Project is to feature a total of 104 turbines, manufactured by General Electric and Vestas.

AT&F to work on pioneering US project

AT&F (American Tank & Fabricating) has been selected to partner on Project Icebreaker, a pioneering effort to develop the first freshwater wind energy source in North America.

The demonstration project, led by the Lake Erie Energy Development (LEEDCo) at a site seven miles northwest of downtown Cleveland, is aimed at catalysing manufacturing growth in the US by removing barriers between American steel fabricators and the offshore wind industry.

AT&F mentioned that bringing manufacturers on board at this early stage is the best way to develop the most cost-effective design.

LEEDCo selected AT&F as a partner representing US steel fabricators during the design of the foundation, which will support six Siemens 3.0 MW turbines.

Clean Power Plan is achievable says AWEA

The American Wind Energy Association has highlighted that renewable energy will play a key role in cost-effective compliance with the Clean Power Plan.

The association’s senior vice president, government and public affairs, Rob Gramlich, mentioned that wind energy is already greatly reducing emissions, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) correctly envisions a greatly expanded role for wind energy under the Clean Power Plan. U.S. wind energy facilities produced more than 181 million MWh over the last 12 months.

It also shared that wind energy’s rapid growth has been driven by cost reductions achieved through economies of scale, technological advances, as well as the creation of a domestic wind manufacturing base. The average price for utility wind energy purchases has decreased by 62% since 2009. Large amounts of wind energy are already being reliably integrated. Wind energy now reliably provides more than 25% of the electricity in Iowa and South Dakota, and 12% or more of the generation in a total of nine states.

BOEM confirms new leader for OREP

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has appointed James Bennett as BOEM’s new Chief for the Office of Renewable Energy Programs (OREP).

The programme is responsible for overseeing offshore renewable energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Bennett has 35 years of Federal service and has served in a variety of capacities around the Department of the Interior and the Bureau. Most recently, he served as the Chief of the Division of Environmental Assessment overseeing BOEM’s compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and other environmental laws focusing on the Federal Outer Continental Shelf programmes.