A joint venture between Mitsubishi Corp and Barclays Bank has paid $720 million for the rights in the offshore transmission system linking the London Array wind farm with the UK’s onshore electricity grid.
Blue Transmission London Array Ltd competed against three other bidders to win the licence to maintain and operate the link for the 630 MW wind farm in the Thames estuary, southeast England.
The company will operate the asset for 20 years, according to Ofgem, the UK regulator that has granted the licence to Blue Transmission.
The transmission link is the eighth to be acquired by Mitsubishi in Europe. The Japanese company says that it will make further involvement in the European transmission sector as part of its corporate strategy because of the rise in renewable energy in the region.
It also says that it will look to tap transmission markets in North America and Asia as renewable energy develops.
Mitsubishi acquired the transmission link for the Walney-1 wind farm in November 2011, followed by Walney-2 in 2012 and Sheringham Shoal in 2013. It has also entered Germany’s electricity transmission sector with the acquisition of BorWin-1/2 in 2012 and DolWin-2/HelWin-2 in 2013.
