Israel's Nofar Energy Grows U.S. Solar Presence with Pine Gate Assets Acquisition

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Written by Eric Funderburk for IIR News (Sugar Land Texas)

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Summary

Israel's Nofar Energy has bought both functioning and under-construction solar facilities from Pine Gate Renewables, which declared Chapter 11 in November.

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Nofar Makes a Move

Israel's Nofar Energy (Tel Aviv) has taken a US$285 million dive into the U.S. solar sector, shoring up the assets of its U.S. subsidiary Nofar USA (Boca Raton, Florida), with the purchase of nine U.S. assets from troubled company Pine Gate Renewables (Asheville, North Carolina). The transaction comes about as a result of Pine Gate's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November last year, prompting it to surrender assets at seemingly bargain prices.

What's Included

The transaction includes both fully operational solar plants as well as some that are in various stages of construction. The assets span nine utility-scale solar projects in Alabama, the Carolinas and Texas. Industrial Info is tracking more than 40 fully operational Pine Gate plants, mostly located in North Carolina and South Carolina. Some of these plants will be part of the 650 megawatts (MW) of Pine Gate assets that are operational, suggesting that at least some of the under-construction assets can perhaps be found in Texas.

Pine Gate is at work on a couple of significant projects in Texas, including the Rio Lago solar plant, which includes a battery energy storage system (BESS) and is located near Bandera, Texas. Construction on the plant, which started in 2024, is in the final stages of completion. Once operational, the solar facility will provide 120 MW of power, backed up by the 120-MW BESS. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can learn more by viewing the related project reports.

Pine Gate last year also got started on a 210-MW asset in Sequin, Texas. Whether this plant or the Rio Lago facility are part of the transaction remains unclear, but these projects represent two Pine Gate projects that are reasonably far in the development process, with Rio Lago expected to go online in the very near future, followed by the Seguin plant later this year. Subscribers can click here to learn more about the Magnolia project in Seguin.

Pine Gate Over-Extended?

Industrial Info is tracking 46 active Pine Gate projects totaling $10 billion. However, few of these have broken ground, and the vast majority of them have been rated by Industrial Info as having a low probability of moving forward as planned. As an example, in addition to the two Texas projects under construction, Industrial Info is tracking another 24 Pine Gate projects in the state that haven't yet broken ground and account for over 1,000 MW of solar power generation. It's almost certain that not all of these will be built, but each project still represents individual feasibility studies, construction and equipment planning, financing arrangement, and the search for a company willing to sign on for a power purchase agreement (PPA). All of the plants included in the Nofar transaction have PPAs in place. Big Tech powerhouse Meta Platforms (Menlo Park, California) signed a PPA with Pine Gate for the entire 210-MW output of the Seguin plant in August, making it the fourth project on which the two companies have partnered.

In-House EPC Perils

Despite what seems a very long list of projects, most of which will probably not be built, one of the critical causes of Pine Gate's bankruptcy appears to have been the decision to have its own in-house engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company, Blue Ridge Power (BRP) (Asheville).

In the company's bankruptcy court filings, Pine Gate Chief Financial Officer Ray Shem said, "While created to generate additional revenues by bringing construction services in-house, [BRP] has faced significant financial challenges and has not performed as expected, leading to substantial financial losses."

Energy transition news outlet Latitude Media in a November 2025 article covering the bankruptcy notes that Blue Ridge was founded in 2021, when not long before, in 2019, industry peers Cypress Creek Renewables (Durham, North Carolina) and First Solar Incorporated (Tempe, Arizona) had both shed their in-house EPC arms for financial reasons.

According to Latitude, Pine Gate's problems, especially the drain of BRP, was becoming apparent in early 2024. Shem said Pine Gate had attempted to sell seven projects in the first quarter of that year, reaching out to 130 investors, with no success. By the second quarter of 2024, Pine Gate had hired a banking firm to auction off 49% of its operational assets, which Shem said failed to yield "any actionable proposal." The company tried and failed to sell other projects, including the 1.25-GW Sunstone project in Oregon, which has yet to break ground but comes with a price tag of more than $1.5 billion. (See project report.) PV Tech notes that all this came about despite a $650 million injection of venture capital into the firm in 2024, the largest outlay of venture capital in the U.S. solar sector that year.

And this all preceded the July 2025 passage of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, which greatly shortened the timeline that solar projects could apply for federal investment tax credits, severely challenging the economics of many future projects. By September, Pine Gate had laid off most of Blue Ridge's 500+ workforce, and by November had declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Latitude Media suggests that the Chapter 11 filing was only made possible by more than $400 million in bridge financing from Brookfield Asset Management (New York, New York) and Fundamental Advisors (New York). Otherwise, Pine Gate would have faced Chapter 7 liquidation.

Differing Futures

While $285 million seems a fairly low price for nine U.S. solar plants, most of which are already operating, the cash injection could provide a bit of a lifeline for Pine Gate to sharpen its focus and decide which of its $10 billion in potential projects it will actually follow through on, as well as how it will approach construction with the Blue Ridge workforce substantially reduced. Outside of the Texas projects under construction, Industrial Info has rated only a handful of Pine Gate's projects as having a high probability of moving forward as planned, and most of these are fairly small developments, with the largest being the planned 79-MW Sunflower photovoltaic plant in George County, Mississippi. That project potentially could kick off this quarter, which would it put on track for completion in 2027. With 50 active data center projects in Mississippi, the state might be a prime location to obtain a PPA. Subscribers can click here to learn more about the Sunflower project.

In addition to the operational assets, the acquisition provides Nofar with 325 MW of U.S. projects that are in various stages of construction. Industrial Info's current coverage of Nofar includes six active projects in Romania and the U.K., ranging in size from a 31.1-MW project in Bulbucata, Romania, to a 255-MW development in Moreni, Romania, that is expected to be completed toward the end of this year. Nofar's biggest U.K. project is the addition of a 99.9-MW BESS unit in the county of Derbyshire. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the related project reports.

Key Takeaways

• Israel's Nofar Energy is buying nine U.S. solar assets from North Carolina-based Pine Gate Renewables.
• Pine Gate declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2025.
• Nofar is paying $285 million for the assets, which include 650 MW in operation and another 325 MW in various stages of construction.
• The purchased assets are in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama.

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).