The two projects will bring more than 50 MW of solar to Consumers Energy customers across the state.
Pine Gate Renewables and Irradiant Partners announced that the companies have achieved financing for two utility-scale solar projects, set to bring more than 50 MW of new renewable generation to Michigan.
MacBeth Solar and Lyons Road Solar are located in Muskegon County, north of Grand Rapids, and Shiawassee County, west of Flint, respectively. Both projects are now under construction and are anticipated to achieve commercial operation in early 2022. Each project has a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) in place with with Consumers Energy, through which they will deliver enough energy to power approximately 6,300 homes annually.
Irradiant worked with U.S. Bank, which provided the tax equity, and KeyBank, which provided the construction and permanent financing for Macbeth Solar and Lyons Road Solar.
Prior to Macbeth and Lyons Road, in early 2020, Pine Gate and Irradiant partnered on a portfolio of 14 projects across Michigan, all of which are now operational and providing 40MW of clean energy through 20- year PPAs with Consumers Energy. In Michigan, Pine Gate and Irradiant are developing an additional 22 projects totaling more than 400MW contracted through similar 20-year bilateral agreements with Consumers Energy.
“We are thrilled to continue with our buildout of our solar footprint in Michigan,” said Managing Director of Irradiant, Alta Yen. “We look forward to completing these projects with our EPC partner Blue Ridge Power, and further progressing our Michigan pipeline.”
In November, Blue Ridge Power, an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company that houses Pine Gate’s former EPC operations was selected to build a standalone energy storage system for Logan City Light & Power (LL&P), in Logan, Utah. It is planned to be operational by late 2022, and the installation is expected to be the first of its kind in in the state upon completion.
Earlier in the year, Pine Gate completed its first storage solution in the Carolinas, the 6.9 MW/10 MWh Grissom solar and storage installation Northeast of Raleigh, North Carolina. The company currently has more 12 GWh of storage in development as stand-alone or co-located with solar projects across the country.
