The company started exporting power from the project last month, and now the facility is the first in Aura’s portfolio to reach fully operational status.
March 6, 2026
Independent power producer (IPP) Aura Power has started commercial operations at its 49.9MW Kemble Solar Farm in Gloucestershire, marking the company’s transition from a developer into an IPP.
The company started exporting power from the project last month, and the facility is the first in Aura’s portfolio to reach fully operational status. The project will also deliver a 27% biodiversity net gain, and the company has established a community fund of £20,000 a year to support “local initiatives” for the duration of the project’s 40-year lifespan.
“This is an incredibly proud moment for everyone at Aura Power,” said Aura CEO Simon Coulson. “Kemble Solar Farm is the first of ten projects in Aura’s construction and operation pipeline and marks a defining moment for the strategic evolution of Aura Power.”
Aura first received planning permission for the project in 2022, and signed an offtake agreement as part of the fifth allocation round (AR5) of the UK’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, which was held in 2023. The company has also refinanced the project more recently, securing a £44 million debt facility from Dutch bank Rabobank to support construction at the project in 2024.
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The company was also a successful applicant in the most recent CfD round, AR7, securing contracts for 152MW of solar capacity across three projects. This was a record-breaking round for the UK solar industry, with contracts awarded to 4.9GW of solar PV capacity, split across 155 individual projects, both of which are records for the UK’s support scheme. The strike price for the Kemble project, set in 2023, is £47/MWh, almost £20 lower than the £65.23/MWh reached last month.
The UK’s CfD scheme was dubbed the “gold standard” for solar investment opportunities by Island Green Power CEO Bob Psaradellis at last month’s Solar Finance & Investment Europe event, hosted in London by Solar Power Portal publisher Solar Media.
Looking ahead, Aura plans to bring the remainder of its 600MW solar pipeline in the UK into operation over the next 18 months, including the 128MW Grimsby and Burtree Lane projects, at which the company expects to begin commercial operations “this spring”.
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JP Casey
Section Editor, Informa
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