Last updated at 14:19, Friday, 22 February 2013

SIX bidders have qualified to compete for a £311m contract to build the West of Duddon Sands offshore windfarm.

The £50m farm, which is a joint venture between ScottishPower Renewables and DONG Energy, will be situated 14km off the coast of Walney Island in the East Irish Sea and close to the Ormonde and Walney Offshore sites.

West of Duddon Sands is expected to house 108 turbines and generate renewable energy for more than 300,000 UK households.

Bidders will compete for the high-voltage transmission link to the windfarm, which the winner will operate for the next 20 years.

Ofgem E-Serve said the qualifying bidders included: Balfour Beatty Equitix Consortium, Blue Transmission, John Laing Investments, National Grid Offshore, Skanska and Transmission Capital Partners.

This second transitional tender round has £1.4bn of transmission assets being tendered, following the first bidding process for £1.1bn of transmission links, which brought in nearly £4bn of investment.

Ofgem E-Serve’s managing director, Robert Hull, said: ”The strong interest in competing for the West of Duddon Sands transmission assets is further proof that the offshore regime is successfully encouraging investment, attracting new players and ensuring competition in the offshore transmission sector.”

The next tender round is expected to open later this year.

First published at 14:14, Friday, 22 February 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk