Partner Article

Balfour Beatty secures £346m North Wales wind farm

Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty, has been appointed as the preferred bidder to own and operate wind farm assets off the coast of North Wales.

The Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm project, located off the north coast of Wales in the UK, is worth £346m, and was won through a competitive tender process carried out by government regulator, Ofgem.

Balfour Beatty will invest 60% of the equity stake required for the project upon financial close, which is expected during the first half of 2014.

The group will jointly own the 576 MW offshore wind farm in a consortium with Equitix once a financial close is reached, and will be responsible for operation and maintenance, as well as connecting the wind farm to onshore electricity systems.

Balfour Beatty secured the deal as part of the Offshore Transmission Owners (“OFTO”) regulatory regime, which will carry out its responsibilities through a 20-year licence awarded by Ofgem.

The contract, announced on Monday, will further cement the group’s position as a major investor in offshore wind farming, as the Gwynt y Môr site joins Balfour Beatty’s existing assets at Thanet and Greater Gabbard.

Together, the group’s OFTO transmission assets come to a value of £830m and a transmission capacity of 1380 MW.

Balfour Beatty has also recently been selected by Ofgem to participate in the next round of bidding which will commence later this year for the West of Duddon Sands project, which has an estimated transfer value of £310 million.

Balfour Beatty’s chief executive, Andrew McNaughton, said: “Gwynt y Môr is a significant step in the development of our investment business in non-PPP infrastructure markets, as well as our wider strategy of developing our delivery capability in the offshore renewables industry.

“It firmly places Balfour Beatty in a leading position within the fast growing and potentially very large offshore transmission markets.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .