Aura Power has begun sounding the market regarding the sale of a 200 MWp CfD-backed solar PV portfolio which will be sold as operational assets, it is understood.

The Bristol-based IPP secured inflation-linked 15-year CfDs for the three projects that make up the portfolio – Kemble near Cirencester, Burtree Lane near Darlington and a Grimsby plant – in the UK’s CfD Allocation Round 5 in summer 2023, and subsequently raised over GBP 100m in senior debt for the schemes in three separate deals with Rabobank over October 2024 – June 2025.

Two of the three projects were scheduled to be in operation in 2025, with the third scheme to be commissioned in H1 2026.

More recently in late summer 2025 Aura also raised a junior debt package against the assets from Investec, freeing up equity for redeployment in its project pipeline. The amount of junior debt raised is not known, but was forecast at the time to be in the GBP 20m – GBP 30m range.

The group is understood to now be working on the sale of the assets alongside financial advisor PKF Francis Clark, with teasers having been circulated to the market this month.

It is believed to be set to launch a first round of bidding in March, with NBOs to then fall due in early April.

Aura secured a strike price of GBP 47.00 / MWh (in 2012 prices) for the Kemble, Burtree Lane and Grimsby schemes three years ago.

The group signalled its shift toward an IPP model on financing the Kemble project in autumn 2024, whereas previously it would typically sell assets at the ready-to-build stage.

This new strategy is in part because whereas up to two-to-three years ago there would be little difference in valuation between a ready-to-build or COD solar PV project, operational assets now command higher price tags.