UK's Ofgem picks preferred bidder to own, operate $700 mln wind farm link

LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) -

* Britain's energy regulator Ofgem on Wednesday picked Diamond Transmission Partners (DTP) as preferred bidder to own and operate the 530 million pound ($697 million) transmission link to the Race Bank Wind Farm off the Norfolk coast on the East of England.

* Ofgem chose DTP, a consortium of Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation and HICL Infrastructure Company Limited, following a competitive tender process, it said in a statement.

* The 573 meagawatt Race Bank Wind Farm consists of 91 turbines, and can produce enough electricity to power more than 500,000 homes.

* The wind farm has been developed by a consortium of Orsted , Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5, Macquarie Capital (Other OTC: CGHC - news) , and Sumitomo Corporation Energy. ($1 = 0.7600 pounds) (Reporting By Susanna Twidale)