The UK’s Workplace of Fuel and Electrical energy Markets (Ofgem) is inviting bids to personal and function prebuilt transmission infrastructure connecting the Sofia offshore wind farm to the onshore electrical energy grid.
Bids are being invited in Tender Spherical 12 (TR12), being held underneath the Offshore Transmission Proprietor (OFTO) regime.
The OFTO tender course of goals to accomplice offshore wind mills with environment friendly and aggressive transmission operators.
“OFTO is a part of Ofgem’s work to draw buyers into the UK to spice up development and construct a secure and safe power system to ship clear energy to folks’s houses,” said Ofgem director of main initiatives Beatrice Filkin.
“In addition to efficiently attracting the funding wanted to improve our power system, OFTO additionally ensures that we as regulator ship deal for shoppers and hold payments as little as doable.”
OFTO was launched in 2009, and over the regime’s lifespan so far, profitable bidders have invested over £11b in transmission hyperlinks connecting 27 offshore wind farms.
The Sofia wind farm, operated by RWE, is underneath development within the Dogger Financial institution space of the Central North Sea, 121 miles (195km) off the coast of Northeast England.
When absolutely operational, which is focused for 2026, the wind farm could have a capability of 1.4GW. The offshore portion of the challenge will embody 100 SG 14‑222 DD generators, every with a capability of 14MW.
Set up of the monopile foundations for the generators on the Sofia website started in Could 2024.
RWE stated on the time that relying on sea situations, all 100 foundations had been anticipated to be put in by the spring of 2025.
Wind turbine blades for Sofia are being manufactured at Siemens Gamesa’s manufacturing facility in Hull. The ability is making ready to start manufacturing recyclable turbine blades this spring.
At Sofia, recyclable blades will probably be deployed on 44 of the 100 generators.
The wind farm will probably be related to the onshore electrical energy grid in North Yorkshire. The electrical energy transmission infrastructure for the challenge contains cables and each offshore and onshore converter stations and substations. Set up of the excessive voltage direct present (HVDC) export cable linking the Sofia website to the onshore grid started in 2023. The offshore converter platform was put in on the website in August 2024.
The submission deadline for bids underneath TR12 is Could 13. Ofgem is then planning to launch one other OFTO spherical, TR13, later this yr.
TR13 is anticipated to be the largest tender spherical so far, comprising transmission belongings for 3 wind farms – Dogger Financial institution C, Inch Cape and East Anglia 3.
Ofgem anticipates bringing a mean of £6b per yr of OFTO belongings to market every year as much as 2030 because the tempo of offshore wind growth picks up. The regulator expects the common worth of OFTO belongings to rise as bigger wind farms are developed farther from shore. Consequently, Ofgem says that as much as £30b of OFTO belongings may come to market by 2030.
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