“What about the triple-digit number of creditors who banked on a loser? What about taxpayers who funded around 30 percent of the solar investment? … Ben Catt is just another rent-seeker, a political crony, like Sunnova’s John Berger, benefitting at the expense of just about everyone else.”
MasterResource has chronicled the rise and fall of major U.S. solar firms this year. The rooftop solar business is in shambles, with leaders such as Sunnova becoming worthless and defaulting on their long-term projects. And more recently, utility-scale solar developers are in trouble despite the last-minute deal to continue major tax subsidies until next year.
Add this to the list. As reported in Solar Power World, (November 7, 2025):
National solar developer Pine Gate Renewables is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and selling its solar and energy storage project portfolio and independent power producer business. This will include completed and under-development projects, of which the company stated there is 10 GWDC in progress.
Founded nine years ago, Pine Gate has commercial and utility solar business in 32 states. With 500 MW of development in 2022, the company made the 2023 Top Solar Contractors List.
No less than 119 creditors are left in the lurch. The company’s press release–“Pine Gate Renewables Announces Comprehensive Agreements to Facilitate Strategic and Value-Maximizing Sales Process“–did not explain why the company failed despite receiving a raft of special government favors. Instead, CEO Ben Catt stated:
“Since our founding almost 10 years ago, Pine Gate has grown tremendously, deploying innovative solar and energy storage projects at scale that enable us to deliver renewable, reliable, and affordable energy. To ensure that our projects continue generating renewable energy, we made the strategic decision to commence this court-supervised sales process. With significant financial support from certain of our current lenders, we’re confident that we will successfully conduct a competitive sales process that reflects the inherent value of our nationwide portfolio of solar and energy storage projects.
Catt continues:
I’m grateful for the hard work and dedication of the Pine Gate team who has been key to helping us drive the renewable energy transition. As we move through this process, we remain committed to supporting our valued project partners across our more than 100 operational solar facilities and forging ahead with our projects in development and under construction.
This is winner talk, not loser talk. What about the triple-digit number of creditors who banked on a loser? What about taxpayers who funded around 30 percent of the solar investment? What if these projects had been sustainable from consumer demand (such as natural-gas-fired plants)? Ben Catt is just another rent-seeker, a political crony, like Sunnova’s John Berger, benefitting at the expense of just about everyone else.