3i Infrastructure is investing £23m to take a 50% stake in the West of Duddon Sands offshore transmission project. The vendors are Dong Energy and Scottish Power Renewables. The remaining equity in the project will be acquired by Macquarie Capital.
The consortium was selected as preferred bidder following a competitive tender run by Ofgem in July 2014. The project involves the acquisition, financing and operation of power transmission cables and associated electrical equipment connecting the West of Duddon Sands offshore wind farm, located c.15km off Walney Island in the Irish sea, to the UK electricity grid in Heysham, Lancashire. The wind farm has 108 Siemens 3.6MW wind turbines which have a capacity of 389MW and provides clean, renewable energy for more than 270,000 UK households each year.
3IN : 3i Infrastructure invests in offshore transmission project