Pine Gate Renewables, a solar project developer, has secured a $500 million credit facility from Fundamental Renewables to finance the development and construction of its utility-scale solar and storage projects across the US.

Pine Gate Renewables plans to utilize the additional capital from the facility to diversify its solar and energy storage projects in the country.

Early this month, the company received financing for 56 MW of solar projects under development in Michigan from Irradiant Partners, an alternative investment manager. The funding amount secured for the project was not disclosed. The solar projects are scheduled to be commissioned by early 2022. Pine Gate Renewables and Irradiant are developing over 400 MW of projects in Michigan through bilateral contracts with Consumers Energy.

Pine Gate has collaborated with United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), North America’s food wholesaler and U.S. Bank, investing in Trent River Solar, a 108.5 MW solar project located in Jones County, North Carolina. It also closed the financing of a 9 MW solar and storage project located in Massachusetts and a 12-project fund of solar and solar plus storage sites in North Carolina last year.

It currently operates 85 solar projects in five states across the US, totaling 1 GW and another 19 GW in active development. The company also has more than 700 MW under construction.

Sharing his comments on the new financing, Ben Catt, CEO of Pine Gate Renewables, said, “This strategic financing from Fundamental will enable us to execute on our long-term growth initiatives and provides us with the flexible capital necessary to expand our solar portfolio and bring even more renewable energy to communities nationwide,”

A prominent provider of debt financing for renewable projects, Fundamental Renewables, is the clean energy investment arm of Fundamental Advisors LP. It prides itself as a strategic investor in the municipal market and public purpose assets.

According to Mercom’s 9M and Q3 2021 Solar Funding and M&A Report, solar companies raised $22.8 billion in corporate funding in 112 deals in the first nine months (9M) of 2021, a 190% increase compared to $7.9 billion in 72 deals in the same period last year. Financing activity was up across the board, including venture capital, debt, and public market financing.