Pine Gate inks $500m credit facility to fuel solar and storage project growth

Pine Gate Renewables said that Fundamental Renewables will provide a $500 million credit facility to Pine Gate to fund the initial construction and development of utility-scale solar projects.

The facility provides Asheville, North Carolina-based Pine Gate with additional capital to develop and build a range of solar and storage projects across the country. Pine Gate today operates 85 solar projects in five states across the U.S., accounting for more than 1 GWdc of energy, with another 19 GW in active development. The company said it currently has more than 700 MWdc in construction.

Fundamental Renewables is the renewable and clean energy investment arm of Fundamental Advisors LP. Founded in 2007, Fundamental invests in public purpose and community assets, including renewable energy.

The loan is expected to help Pine Gate acquire development assets and complete them.

In late December, Pine Gate  and Irradiant Partners financed two solar projects in Michigan, to bring 56MWdc/40MWac of solar energy to two communities. MacBeth Solar and Lyons Road Solar are under construction and are anticipated to be online by early 2022. Once operational, they are expected to provide enough energy to power approximately 6,300 homes annually through 20-year power purchase agreements (PPA) with local utility Consumers Energy.  

In November, Pine Gate Renewables won a competitive bid with Logan City Light & Power in Utah to build a stand-alone energy storage system using the Eos Znyth Gen 2.3 battery and Nikola Power’s Intellect Plus Energy Management System. The system is designed to provide 0.125 MW/0.5 MWh of backup energy for the grid. The Battery Energy Storage System will be designed and integrated with the city’s System Operational Control Center, which monitors the municipal electricity distribution system, power plants, power contracts and call center. 

Source: Renewable Energy