Afternoon:
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Twelve companies have put themselves forward to compete against National Grid in a bid to break its electricity monopoly in England and Wales.
Ofgem today revealed the identity of bidders to operate £1.15 billion of transmission links from operating or near-operable windfarms, including those in the Thames estuary and off East Anglia to the mainland.
The bids are to connect nine projects. If National Grid is not selected by the energy regulator it could mean sections of Britain's high-voltage electricity network falling into foreign hands for the first time.
British-based rivals include Balfour Beatty (which yesterday was fined for price-rigging in the construction industry), PFI specialist Equitix and a consortium headed by two former Grid offshore chiefs.
Energy supply companies Scottish & Southern Energy and the German-owned RWE npower are bidding as are two Irish operators ESB International and Imera.
Other bidders include Dong of Denmark, Statoil of Norway, a Dutch infrastructure fund, Canadian group Frontier Power and the ubiquitous Australian fund group Macquarie, whose assets include Thames Water.
The first connections are part of a £15 billion project.
