Ofgem offshore wind transmission costs put at £591.3m each

Ofgem has published its draft cost assessments for the Dogger Bank A and Moray West offshore wind farms, setting out the offshore wind transmission costs that will be used in the tender for each project’s grid connection assets. Both documents state a Final Transfer Value of £591.3 million.

Neither document says what the figures mean for household energy bills. This report sets out what Ofgem has confirmed, what remains provisional and what happens next.

The £591.3m figure for each wind farm’s transmission assets

The Final Transfer Value is the figure Ofgem has set for the transmission assets of each wind farm. According to Ofgem, the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority will use the cost assessment to determine the value of those assets when they are transferred to the successful bidder in the tender process. The Moray West document gives the figure as £591.3 million and the Dogger Bank A document as £591.3m, so the two are identical as published.

Ofgem said the value has been published in the licence consultation under section 8A of the Electricity Act 1989. In its words, “we do not expect any further changes to the Assessed Costs.” The regulator added that it does not intend to finalise the Final Transfer Value until the Authority has determined to grant an offshore transmission licence to the successful bidder.

Added together, the two stated values come to £1,182.6 million. That total is our own arithmetic, not an Ofgem figure, and it stays provisional until each licence decision is made.

Dogger Bank wind farm infrastructure investment and Moray West compared

The two documents follow the same pattern. Each is a draft cost assessment, each carries the same stated value, and each sits in the same tender round, which Ofgem labels OFTO tender round 10. The table below sets out the details Ofgem has published for both projects.

Because the figures match to the decimal, readers may want to check Ofgem’s final documents when they appear. We have reported both exactly as the regulator published them.

What is behind the Moray West and Dogger Bank valuations

The valuations come out of Ofgem’s offshore transmission process. In that process, the transmission assets built for a wind farm are assessed, valued and then transferred to a bidder that wins a tender and is granted a licence. Ofgem’s cost assessment is the step that fixes the value of those assets for the transfer.

The sources do not break the £591.3 million down into individual cost items, so we cannot say what share went on cables, platforms or other equipment. We have left that out rather than guess.

The separate notices under section 8A(3) of the Electricity Act 1989 deal with the licences themselves. In each, the Authority proposes to modify certain standard conditions of the transmission licence, for DBA OFTO Project Limited and TC Moray West OFTO Limited respectively. The modifications are set out in attached notices, and Ofgem has described the consultation as aimed at “any parties interested in offshore transmission”.

What the offshore wind connection costs mean for readers

For households, the honest position is that these documents do not yet translate into a bill figure. Ofgem has not published a per-household amount in either assessment, so any claim about a specific effect on energy bills should be checked against Ofgem’s own publications.

The timeline is clear. Responses to both licence consultations are due by 11 November 2026. After that, the Authority must decide whether to grant a licence to the successful bidder, and Ofgem has given no date for that decision. Only then does it intend to finalise the Final Transfer Value.

Anyone with an interest in offshore transmission can respond by emailing [email protected] before the closing date. Readers who want to follow the outcome should look for the final assessments for both wind farms and compare the final value with the £591.3 million now published.