Balfour wins £346m wind farm contract

Ofgem has selected the Balfour Beatty Equitix Consortium as preferred bidder to own and operate the high voltage transmission links to the Gwynt y Môr wind farm off the North Wales coast.

The Gwynt y Môr wind farm is currently under construction by RWE npower renewables and will contain 160 wind turbines. RWE Innogy, with Stadtwerke München GmbH and Siemens, is funding the project.

Gwynt y Môr has an indicative transfer value of £346m. 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.

Once financial close has been achieved, Balfour Beatty, in a consortium with Equitix, will jointly own the 576 MW offshore high-voltage transmission asset and will be responsible for the asset's operation and maintenance as well as connecting the wind farm to the onshore electricity transmission system. There will be a 20-year licence awarded by Ofgem, the UK Government's regulator for gas and electricity markets.