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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.
As well as contributing to local and national targets in the drive to net zero, our proposal offers significant enhancements to local biodiversity; a much needed factor in tackling the current climate and ecological crisis.
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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.
We submitted our planning application to Cotswold District Council and Wiltshire Council. Details of how to view the application can be seen in the latest news section.
The application will be determined by each respective planning authority. This process can take anything from 13 weeks to 40.
Once Planning Permission is successfully obtained we will begin construction as soon as possible. We don’t anticipate this to commence before Summer 2022 and will continue to keep the local community updated.
Construction is expected to begin in 2023 and the local community will be notified when dates are confirmed.
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.
Stated figure is calculated the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ‘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.
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.
Due to social distancing measures we held a pre planning public consultation webinar in November 2020. Here we presented our initial plans and answered any questions from the local community.
Since presenting our initial plans, we have made significant amends to the site design through extensive engagement with local residents. These include the relocation of a number of panels as well as implementing more effective planting.
The local planning authorities will now be consulting with local residents on our application. However we will continue to engage with the local community throughout the planning determination period and are happy to answer any questions you may have.
This webinar was presented to the local community and interested parties regarding Kemble Solar Farm. The presentation was delivered by Aura Power and followed by a Q&A session. Viewers are invited to submit their questions to chloe.hood@aurapower.co.uk
The revised site layout and landscaping can be seen in the image to the left – please click to enlarge.
Whilst offering ecological benefits locally, we understand that solar farms can represent a change to the landscape. As such, we conducted a number of environmental and visual surveys to establish and mitigate any such effects.
We have worked closely with local residents to address concerns and amended our site design to allow further setback from footpaths and residences as well as planting mature trees and hedgerows for more immediate screening.
Your feedback is very important to us. Please leave a comment and one of our project team will get back to you as soon as possible.
30 Queen Square
Penthouse Office
Bristol BS1 4ND
+44 (0) 117 214 1982
Penthouse Office
30 Queen Square
Bristol BS1 4ND
+44 (0) 117 214 1982