Powered by 849,840 panels, the solar project is expected to begin commercial operation in the first quarter of next year

Pine Gate Renewables

Image: The project is Pine Gate’s 13th solar project in South Carolina. Photo: Courtesy of Pine Gate Renewables.

Pine Gate Renewables has started construction of the 101MW Bowman Solar project in Orangeburg County, South Carolina.

Located on 651 acres of land, the project is one of its largest solar sites in the state.  The company stated that it has deployed its in-house engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) team and its contractors to build the solar project.

Powered by 849,840 panels, the solar project is expected to begin commercial operation in the first quarter of next year.

Financing for the solar project was led by CIT’s Power and Energy group, which arranged the construction and permanent financing facilities, and US Bank, which was responsible for arranging the tax equity investment.

Momentum Energy Advisors supported Pine Gate in sourcing, structuring, and executing the debt and tax equity financing.

Pine Gate Renewables CEO Ben Catt said: “Pine Gate is proud to continue our track record of investing in the local communities of South Carolina. We look forward to being a long-term partner to the citizens of Orangeburg County.”

Pine Gate raised more than £320m in capital for its projects in the state

Bowman Solar is the company’s thirteenth project in the state and the company’s South Carolina projects have raised more than $400m (£320m) in capital and generate about $1m (£799930) in personal property taxes for local communities to date.

Furthermore, the solar project is expected to generate enough clean energy to power about 75,000 homes, while avoiding as much CO2 emissions that are produced by 19,100 gas-powered cars off the street.

CIT power and energy business group head and managing director Mike Lorusso said: “CIT is pleased to support Pine Gate Renewables by leading the financing needed to advance this significant addition of renewable power generation capacity in South Carolina.”

In January, the company began commercial operations at its 57MW Peony Solar project, located in Orangeburg County, South Carolina. This solar plant is located on 334 acres of land will generate more than 97,400MWh of clean electricity per year.

The energy generated by the Peony solar facility will be sufficient to power nearly 9,348 South Carolina homes.