A consortium made up of Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (Chubu) and HICL Infrastructure Company Limited has been selected as the preferred bidder for a new offshore electricity transmission link in the UK.
Valued at approximately GBP 500 million, the new offshore electricity transmission asset is comprised of subsea cables, land cables, offshore substations and an onshore substation that connect with the Walney Extension Offshore Windfarm (Generation Capacity: 660MW) situated approximately 30 km off the UK’s western coast.
The consortium will operate this electricity transmission business for a 20-year period starting from fiscal year 2019, following successful acquisition of the asset and the granting of an Offshore Transmission Owner (OFTO) license by the UK’s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem).
With the acquisition of the Walney Extension Offshore Windfarm transmission link, MC will now be operating, through its 100% subsidiary Diamond Transmission Corporation Limited (DTC), eight out of 20 offshore transmission assets in the UK, giving it the largest share of the market. DTC will operate this electricity transmission business by leveraging its experience operating the neighboring Walney 1 and Walney 2 assets.
MC sees its participation in offshore transmission and other businesses that contribute to reducing greenhouse emissions as an opportunity to realize its vision of simultaneously generating economic, societal and environmental value through its businesses.
Chubu operates four offshore transmission assets in Germany together with MC, but this will be its first such acquisition in the UK. Its main contribution to this new venture is expected to be its technical knowledge in the operation of transmission and distribution systems.
Chubu expects that the experience operating such offshore transmission businesses will carry advantages for the future installation of offshore wind farms in Japan.