The owners of a wind farm off the coast of Kent have sold the cabling and substations which take electricity to the National Grid in a deal worth £164m.

Swedish energy company Vattenfall still owns and operates the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm but has sold the infrastruture linking it to the country to Balfour Beatty today.

The move has been managed by Ofgem, the energy regulator, as part of a programme to save between £200m and £400m for consumers across the UK.

The 100-turbine wind farm, located about 12km off the coast of Foreness Point near Botany Bay, is the ninth offshore project to have had its transmission link put out to tender under the Ofgem scheme.

The infrastructure sold to construction giant Balfour Beatty includes two 26km underwater cables, two 2.4km onshore cables, an offshore platform and an onshore substation at Richborough.

Ofgem chief executive Dermot Nolan said: “With the licence granted for Thanet, we mark a major milestone for the offshore regime.

“The successful competitive process has saved consumers hundreds of millions of pounds.

“Introducing competition to offshore transmission has demonstrated the savings that can be achieved for consumers and we must now look at opportunities to introduce competition elsewhere.”

As well as reducing prices for consumers by creating more competition around energy production, Ofgem said the programme has attracted £1.9bn of new investment into the UK.

Energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey said: “We’ve secured £1.9bn of investment, bringing new companies and sources of finance into the sector as a result of this new regime.

“The new competitive tender process is also giving better value for bill payers, delivering savings of up to £400m, so it is proving to be hugely successful.”

Vattenfall said it “welcomed” getting to the end of the tender process and felt the £164m paid for the infrastructure, which it installed in 2009, represented a fair price.

UK country manager Piers Guy said: “The completion of this complex deal helps us to put more effort into strengthening our UK wind energy business.

“Vattenfall’s offshore wind business has strong foundations in the UK and we are keen to build on the three wind farms we currently have in operation in UK waters.”

Vattenfall also owns and operates the 30-turbine Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of Whitstable and Herne Bay, as well as the Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm in the Irish Sea.