Greater Gabbard is the largest of the nine offshore wind farms to be involved in the first round of tenders to run offshore links which took place last year.

Balfour Beatty is also the preferred bidder for the Thanet project.

The Gabbard award means all nine schemes in the first transitional tender round now have preferred bidders identified to own and operate £1.1bn worth of links.

Regulator Ofgem E-Serve’s Managing Director, Commercial, Robert Hull, said: “Appointing a preferred bidder for the Greater Gabbard project, the largest project in the first transitional tender round, marks another important milestone for the offshore transmission regime.”