Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, announces today that its consortium with Equitix has reached financial close for the £162.9 million Humber Gateway offshore transmission project (OFTO). Balfour Beatty will invest £12.5 million of the total required equity of £21 million.
The high-voltage electricity transmission link connects E.ON’s 219MW offshore wind farm in the North Sea, 8km from the east Yorkshire coast, to the onshore transmission grid. The 73 turbines are capable of generating enough electricity for around 170,000 homes each year.
The Balfour Beatty Equitix Consortium will own and operate the offshore transmission link to E.ON’s Humber Gateway wind farm for the next 20 years. Balfour Beatty’s Power Transmission and Distribution business will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the OFTO’s assets, including one offshore and one onshore substation and two cable circuits consisting of 18 kilometres of subsea and 30 kilometres of land cable.
Ian Rylatt, Balfour Beatty Investments Chief Executive, said: “This is our fourth OFTO contract to reach financial close and further establishes our position in the offshore transmission market. Our technical expertise ensures we can efficiently and effectively, support the government’s targets to meet more of the UK’s energy needs through renewable sources.”
Hugh Crossley, Equitix’s Chief Investment Officer, said: “Equitix’s commitment to the offshore transmission market is testament to our investors’ appetite for long term, availability-based, inflation-linked, UK infrastructure. We are pleased to be working in partnership with Balfour Beatty and Ofgem for the benefit of our investors and stakeholders”.
Media enquiries to:
Gill Stephens
Balfour Beatty
+44 (0) 207 121 3873
gill.stephens@balfourbeatty.com
www.balfourbeatty.com | follow us @balfourbeatty
All non-media related enquiries should be directed to +44 (0)20 7216 6800 or info@balfourbeatty.com
Notes to editors:
• Balfour Beatty Investments is a global infrastructure investor operating in the UK, US and Canada. We provide the investment capability to deliver complex infrastructure projects. Over the past 17 years, Balfour Beatty Investments has established itself as one of the largest investors in the PPP industry, building a portfolio of more than 70 projects worldwide, predominantly in the UK and North America. In recent years, Balfour Beatty Investments has diversified into new markets including student accommodation, private rental sector housing (multi-family housing in the US) and generation and transmission of renewable energy. We have recently expanded our approach from a PPP contractor to a broader developer and investor.
• Balfour Beatty’s Power Transmission & Distribution teams work with regional, national and international electricity network owners and operators to provide technical engineering solutions. With experience and expertise across the full spectrum of the electricity grid, including overhead lines, cable tunnels, substations and distribution networks, we deliver a range of proactive and reactive services which support a reliable and safe supply of power flowing to millions of homes and businesses around the world. From scoping and feasibility, to design, construction and on-going maintenance, our in-house experts, flexible resources and industry-leading innovations support clients in the development of some of the UK’s most ambitious power transmission and distribution projects.
• Equitix, is a leading infrastructure investor, developer and long-term fund manager. Equitix is UK focussed and works in Partnerships with the UK government entities and the contracting community to delivering a broad range of infrastructure solutions. Its key sectors are social infrastructure, utility related infrastructure and renewable energy. Equitix is currently raising its 4th core infrastructure fund and has just under £2bn of funds under management in these sectors.
Image: E.ON's Humber Gateway offshore wind farm
