ASHEVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Pine Gate Renewables announced the final closing of a $650 million investment from Generate Capital, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) and HESTA. The investment provides funding to accelerate Pine Gate’s work as a national developer, owner, and operator of clean energy projects and will support the financing of an incremental three gigawatts (GW) of clean energy infrastructure by 2025.
The transaction extends Generate Capital’s existing partnership with Pine Gate and brings new institutional investors to the solar developer’s platform. The scale of the investment validates Pine Gate’s long-term vision for growth, positions the company as a national market leader, and underscores confidence in the clean energy asset class.
“Pine Gate is proud to expand our partnership with Generate Capital and to benefit from HOOPP’s and HESTA’s deep experience in responsible and innovative investing,” said Ben Catt, Chief Executive Officer at Pine Gate Renewables. “This landmark transaction unlocks a new era of partnership and value creation at Pine Gate Renewables as we strive towards our mission to generate The Power of Tomorrow™.”
“We have been incredibly proud to work with the best-in-class team at Pine Gate since 2022, providing strategic growth capital, asset financing and integrated services to accelerate their success and market leadership,” said Scott Jacobs, Generate Capital’s CEO and Co-Founder. “The new partnership with institutional investors illustrates the value of Generate’s one-stop-shop business model as it opens up new, innovative sources of financing for Pine Gate while providing values- and vision-aligned institutional investors the opportunity to capitalize on the clean energy transition.”
“HOOPP is pleased to partner with the Pine Gate team, supporting their work as a leader in renewable energy. We look forward to collaborating with Pine Gate and Generate in providing much-needed clean energy to the company’s customers and communities,” said Steve Smith, HOOPP’s Head of Global Infrastructure. “We expect this investment will deliver great value to our members, the healthcare workers of Ontario.”
“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Generate in backing market leaders like Pine Gate that can help deliver strong, long-term returns for our members and accelerate our contribution to a more sustainable world,” said Jeff Brunton, HESTA’s Head of Portfolio Management.
About Pine Gate Renewables
Pine Gate Renewables is a developer and owner-operator of utility scale solar and energy storage projects across the United States. Founded in 2016, Pine Gate is dedicated to the innovative deployment of clean energy and has extensive experience in the development, financing, construction, and operation of solar and energy storage facilities. A trusted partner and leader in the industry, Pine Gate has closed more than $7 billion in project financing and capital investment. Pine Gate’s operational fleet includes over 100 solar facilities accounting for more than two gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity and it has over 30 GW of projects in development.
About Generate Capital
Generate Capital is a leading sustainable investment and operating platform driving the infrastructure transition. Generate aims to provide the capital and help that developers, businesses, cities and communities need to accelerate cost savings, resilience and decarbonization. Since 2014, Generate has invested in and operated sustainable assets across six sectors: power, mobility, waste, green digital, water and agriculture, and industrial decarbonization. With more than $10 billion raised since inception, 50+ technology and development partnerships and more than 2,000 assets globally, Generate’s one-stop-shop offers proof, not promises that sustainability pays. This transaction is part of Generate Capital Partners, Generate Capital’s platform for managed capital. For more information, please visit www.generatecapital.com.
About the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan
HOOPP serves Ontario’s hospital and community-based healthcare sector, with more than 670 participating employers. Its membership includes nurses, medical technicians, food services staff, housekeeping staff, and many others who provide valued healthcare services. In total, HOOPP’s pension promise covers more than 460,000 active, deferred and retired members. HOOPP is fully funded and manages a highly diversified portfolio of more than C$112 billion in assets that span multiple geographies and asset classes.
About HESTA
HESTA is one of the largest superannuation funds dedicated to Australia’s health and community services sector. An industry fund that’s run only to benefit members, HESTA now has more than one million members (around 80% of whom are women) and currently manages approximately $83 billion* in assets (as of 17 April 2024) invested around the world.
Iria Dorbian of PE Hubs also reports solar and energy storage projects owner/operator Pine Gate Renewables inks $650m:
Pine Gate Renewables, an Asheville, North Carolina-based developer and owner-operator of utility-scale solar and energy storage projects across the United States, has secured a $650 million investment.
The investors were Generate Capital, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and HESTA.
“HOOPP is pleased to partner with the Pine Gate team, supporting their work as a leader in renewable energy. We look forward to collaborating with Pine Gate and Generate in providing much-needed clean energy to the company’s customers and communities,” said Steve Smith, HOOPP’s head of global infrastructure in a statement. “We expect this investment will deliver great value to our members, the healthcare workers of Ontario.”
Pine Gate Renewables was founded in 2016.
Generate Capital is a sustainable investment and operating platform driving the infrastructure transition.
HOOPP serves Ontario’s hospital and community-based healthcare sector, with more than 670 participating employers. Currently, HOOPP has more than C$112 billion in assets.
HESTA is a superannuation fund dedicated to Australia’s health and community services sector.
I would invite my readers to read more about Pine Gate Renewables here.
Founded in 2016, Pine Gate Renewables is a developer and owner-operator of utility scale solar and energy storage projects across the United States. We are dedicated to the innovative deployment of clean energy and have extensive experience in the development, financing, construction, and operation of solar and energy storage facilities.
As a trusted partner and leader in the industry, we have closed more than $7 billion in project financing and capital investment. Our operational fleet includes over 100 solar facilities accounting for more than two gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity. With more than 30 GW of projects in development, we are generating the Power of Tomorrow
™.
They are operating projects in many states including Texas, Georgia, New Mexico, Ohio, and Colorado (and many more) and are developing new projects across many states now.
In order to grow and capitalize on opportunities, this company needs financing and with this deal they have a great partners in Generate Capital, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and HESTA.
For HOOPP in particular, this is a great solar energy platform in the US and Steve Smith, HOOPP’s Head of Global Infrastructure stated so:
“HOOPP is pleased to partner with the Pine Gate team, supporting their work as a leader in renewable energy. We look forward to collaborating with Pine Gate and Generate in providing much-needed clean energy to the company’s customers and communities. We expect this investment will deliver great value to our members, the healthcare workers of Ontario.”
Now, from the little I've read up on them, Pine Gate Renewables is a great company that even has a very informative blog on its website which I found particularly interesting.
For example, I enjoyed reading about the success of the Limewood project in Texas:
Located outside of Temple, Texas in Bell County, Pine Gate Renewable’s Limewood project will supply approximately 204 megawatts (MW) of cost-effective and reliable solar power to the Texas grid.
Bell County is in the heart of Central Texas and is no stranger to solar developments in the area. With numerous renewable energy projects in development, County leadership and community members are very familiar with this type of project and have constructively approached new projects with questions and concerns on the potential impacts to their community.
As a new company coming into Bell County acquiring the Limewood project from the previous owner, it was important that Pine Gate manage a smooth transition. The team needed to establish its own relationships with the community, work to ensure the community and county leaders know who Pine Gate is, and raise awareness of Pine Gate’s best-in-class approach to developing and constructing the Limewood Solar project.
“One of Pine Gate’s top priorities is being a good neighbor in the communities where we have projects, and we are dedicated to listening to community feedback, understanding the concerns and values of our neighbors, and being a good community partner for the long-term,” noted Brian Munger, Pine Gate’s Project Manager on Limewood. “While the Limewood project will deliver a substantial investment to Bell County through construction investment, new taxes, and landowner payments over the life of the project, and create more than 300 construction jobs and be a boost for local businesses during construction, we understood that there were more localized concerns that would need to be addressed and a level of trust established with the community early on.”
Community Engagement through a Tax Abatement Process
The previous owner of the Limewood project established a tax abatement agreement with Bell County. As project timelines shifted with the acquisition process, Pine Gate needed to amend the abatement agreement with the County, a process which requires multiple public hearings at the Commissioner’s Court and an approval process with the County Judge and presiding County Commissioners.
As the tax abatement is mutually beneficial from a financial perspective — with the county receiving a predictable Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) payment over 10-years — the process also enabled Pine Gate to better understand community questions and work with county leadership to mitigate concerns utilizing the abatement agreement.
The Pine Gate team worked closely with the County Judge and the Commissioner presiding over the precinct where the project is located to address issues related to road use during construction, water management, stormwater drainage, safety and environmental protocols, and local labor sourcing outreach. By establishing specific guidelines in the abatement agreement around these topics, Pine Gate was able to highlight its best-in-class practices that it brings to each of its projects while establishing a level of transparency and trust with County leadership and address priority issues important to their local constituents and county well-being. The public hearing process also allowed Pine Gate to hear from local citizens and organizations and speak directly to questions raised in real-time. As a result, this assisted the Pine Gate team in having greater involvement with local entities like the Clearwater Underground Conservation District and the Elm Creek Watershed Authority.
As a result of the diligent work and engagement with County leadership, the Limewood abatement agreement received a favorable vote in January 2024 and was a positive step forward for the project in Bell County, TX.
“I am greatly appreciative to the leadership of Bell County for their willingness to engage with us on the Limewood project and the positive steps we have taken together that ultimately help us be a good community partner for the long-term with Limewood,” Munger concluded. “Our team is looking forward to engaging with the community more in the coming months, building new relationships, finding ways to support the community in new ways and ultimately delivering a successful project that will support Texas’ growing energy demand.”
This is what I call ESG in action even if they're not labelling that way, it's a smart way to operate a business and that's why Pine Gate is growing fast and focusing on delivering projects that benefit all stakeholders.
Lastly, over the weekend I posted this FT article stating on how the G7 is targeting a sixfold expansion of electricity storage stating the following on Linkedin:
Here’s the good news, the G7 plans on increasing electricity storage sixfold. Now here’s the bad news, utility grade storage is a pipe dream politicians love to peddle because they can’t commit to growing nuclear energy which the world desperately needs.I have nothing against solar or wind and understand why large pension funds focus their attention there instead of nuclear which requires massive investments and takes a lot more time to build out but I needed to inform people that there are severe limitations to utility grade storage and renewables are not the ultimate answer to decarbonizing our world.
Battery storage was a dream invented by the wind lobby in order to convince utilities to build out more wind capacity over 30%.
But as we found out in Texas, when your grid has intermittent of 35% or more (solar and wind), it becomes unstable and can knock out the entire grid.
The truth is we need storage that lasts days and weeks, not hours and the only real solution is nuclear energy but politicians hate talking it up (wind and solar are so much sexier even if they’re worthless to meet increasing electricity demand compared to nuclear).
This has nothing to do with HOOPP's investment in Pine Gate or other investments Canadian pension funds do in wind and solar projects, just wanted to set the record straight on why the world needs more nuclear energy.
Below, the dynamic landscape of our energy transition, fostering diversity within the workforce is a strategic objective that will unlock innovative and sustainable climate solutions for all. As a utility-scale solar energy company pioneering the decarbonization of the US electricity sector, Pine Gate Renewables approaches diversity, equity, and inclusion as the right thing to do and an intelligent business decision.
Watch this interview with CEO Benjamin D Catt at the 28th convening of the Council of Parties (COP) held last year and pay close attention to what he says about the limits of solar energy and how stationary energy storage is still in the early innings and how we are going to need long duration storage going forward because "we need energy when we need energy" (after minute 8 towards the end).
Also, Michael Shellenberger's TED talk on why he changed his mind on nuclear energy. This clip is old (2017) but still worth watching (too bad German politicians made bonehead decisions to close their nuclear plants since then, a move that has cost them billions, especially after Russia invaded Ukraine).