Aurora Grid Renewables Business Plan › Section 7 › Operations & Management

7.1 Operating model

Aurora Grid operates as an integrated platform with three layers: an
asset layer (solar, wind and storage plants operated to maximise
availability and yield under long-term O&M agreements), a commercial
layer (the Aurora Grid Exchange trading, aggregation, wheeling and
portfolio-management desk), and an asset-management layer (financing,
refinancing, capital recycling and environmental-market origination). A
central control and asset-management function monitors generation,
dispatches storage, optimises trading positions and administers PPA and
wheeling settlement across the portfolio — mirroring the
EPC-plus-O&M-plus-asset-management model that integrated operators
use to control cost and quality across the lifecycle.

7.2 Management team

The team combines utility-scale development, project finance, energy
trading and operations expertise, supported by an independent board and
investment committee with infrastructure-fund and DFI representation
post-investment. Building this specialist capability — particularly the
trading desk and the capital-recycling function — ahead of the
generation coming online is a gating activity in the roadmap.

7.3 Governance

• Board & investment committee. Independent
  chair; sponsor, infrastructure-fund and DFI representation; formal
  approval of each project and major trading limit against grid, offtake
  and risk gates.
• Trading risk governance. A dedicated framework
  for the Aurora Grid Exchange — position limits, counterparty-credit
  policy, mark-to-market and settlement controls — reflecting that trading
  introduces market and credit risks distinct from generation.
• Milestone-gated capital. Equity and debt release
  against certified grid, offtake and construction milestones; no major
  capital ahead of secured grid connection.
• ESG & green-bond compliance. Governance
  aligned to IFC Performance Standards, Equator Principles and Green Bond
  Principles, with independent verification of use-of-proceeds and impact,
  and REIPPPP-style economic-development and community-ownership
  structures.

7.4 Asset management, O&M and performance

The platform’s long-term value depends on operating its assets at
high availability and yield over 25-year-plus lives. Generation assets
run under long-term O&M agreements with availability guarantees and
liquidated damages; the asset-management function monitors real-time
performance against resource forecasts, schedules preventive
maintenance, and manages warranty and augmentation cycles. For the 1.8
GW BESS fleet, active state-of-health management and reserved
augmentation capital preserve capacity against degradation over the
~12–15 year cell cycle.

Performance is measured against P50 and P90 energy yields — the
estimates that underpin the PPA commitments and the debt sizing.
Operating consistently at or above P50, while managing curtailment
through the storage fleet and the trading and wheeling routes to market,
is the operational discipline that protects both the contracted revenue
and the merchant upside. This asset-management capability is where an
integrated platform operator adds value beyond passive ownership, and it
is a core diligence focus for lenders sizing debt against P90.

Confidential — this business plan is provided to prospective investors and lenders for evaluation purposes only and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written consent of Aurora Grid Renewables Holdings (Pty) Ltd.