Kemble Solar Farm

Kemble Solar Farm

Aura Power are working with the Bathurst Estate on a solar farm proposal on land southwest of Kemble and northeast of Chelworth. The solar farm could generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of up to 14,441 homes, thereby saving up to 25,787 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year. These figures are based on the expected capacity of up to 49.9MW. 

Kemble Solar Farm will be built without subsidy, and will therefore compete with fossil fuel generation on a level playing field. By increasing the supply of clean power, our solar farm will help to reduce national power prices, whilst securing regional investment and green jobs. As a local business, our solar farm will also be contributing nearly £100,000 in business rates to Cotswold and Wiltshire Councils every year.

Furthermore, Aura is proposing a Community Benefit Fund of £350 per MW per year (index-linked), for the lifetime of the solar farm. This could amount to £17,500 a year for 40 years or nearly £700,000 in total. £2,000 a year would be set aside for educational sessions with local schools and site visits to the solar farm. The remainder will would typically be administered by the local parish councils and used for social and environmental community projects.

Latest news

We want to involve the local community at every stage of the development process.

We held our Public Consultation event via Zoom on Tuesday 10th November. A recording of the webinar can be seen below.

  • 10th November 2020: Public Consultation Webinar

    On the 10th November we held a Pre-Planning Public Consultation Webinar and Q&A session event where we outlined the proposal and answered questions from the local community. A recording of this webinar is available to watch below.

  • December 2020: Design Finalised and Planning Application Submitted

    We will consider all community feedback from the Public Consultation before finalising the design, ready for submission.

  • Spring 2021: Planning Decision

    The Planning Decision will be formalised within 13 weeks of the date of submission.

  • Summer 2021: Construction (If approved)

    Once Planning Permission is successfully obtained we will begin construction. Construction of a solar farm on this nature is expected to take around 12 weeks.

Public Consultation Webinar

Hearing the views of the local community is very important to us and we strongly value your feedback. Due to current social distancing measures, we held our public consultation via a Zoom webinar online on Tuesday 10th November at 6pm. Here, the local community were able to ask any questions live to our project team. The webinar was recorded and available to view below.

Click here to view presentation slides
Click here to complete our feedback form

What is a solar farm?

A solar farm comprises a series of solar panels on pole mounted tables that form solar arrays. Additional equipment such as transformers, inverters, fencing, and a small substation, etc. would also be installed in order to connect the solar farm into the local electricity grid.

Solar panels convert sunlight into electricity, which is then exported directly into the electricity network. In order to maximise electricity production, the panels will be arranged in a southerly direction, and will be tilted at an angle to maximise the energy collected from sunlight.

Why do we need solar farms?

Aura Power is committed to help the UK reach its target of Net Zero emissions by 2050. As we emerge from this unprecedented global health crisis, the Government has pledged to ‘build back greener’ as part of its economic stimulus measures. There is a clear imperative to think global and act local and we hope that Kemble solar farm can be a part of this.

Why here?

• The site has good natural screening with existing vegetation

• The addition of supplementary vegetation would help further screen much of the site from the neighbouring area

• There is good access which will be via the A429

• The land is relatively flat

• The site is not covered by any landscape designation

• There is a suitable grid connection point nearby

• There are high levels of solar irradiation in this part of England

The site boundary is outlined red.

To find the site location on google maps, click here.

25787
tonnes of CO2 saved

Based upon 430 tonnes of carbon dioxide per GWh for electricity supplied by fossil fuels, published by DBEIS (28th March 2019) 2018 UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Provisional Figures Statistical Release: National Statistics.

59969
MWh (net) of electricity every year.

Using a Solar Radiation Database (source: https://www.rensmart.com/Maps) figure of 3.33kwh/m2/day, a candidate solar panel irradiation efficiency of 15.1% and 10% array losses.

14441
homes powered with electricity

Stated figure is calculated the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Stratedy ‘Sub-national electricity consumption statistics 2017’ updated September 2019, which reports an average domestic consumption per household in the South West of 4,152.64kWh (DBEIS, 2019). NB. All figures reported to 3 significant figures unless stated otherwise.

Our Proposal thus far:

Whilst offering ecological benefits locally, we understand that solar farms can represent a change to the landscape. As such, we are conducting a number of environmental and visual surveys to establish the presence of any such effects. We endeavour that any impacts will be avoided as far as possible, and mitigated where not.

We recognise that flooding is a major concern of the local community and as such we have included measures in our plan to help alleviate excess surface water.

We welcome the thoughts of local residents about our plans, and invite you to attend the Public Consultation Event (details above). Alternatively, please do send over your comments by contacting us using the details below.

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Contact details

chloe.hood@aurapower.co.uk

0117 214 1971

Aura Power Solar UK LTD, 3 Portwall Lane, Bristol, BS1 6NB