Biggs Solar LLC, a recently-formed affiliate of Cypress Creek Renewables, applied March 12 to the North Carolina Utilities Commission for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity on a 50-MW (ac) solar facility to be located in Robeson County.
The facility will be located on the east side of Shannon Road, the south side of Morgan J Road, and on the west side of Nantucket Road at Shannon in Robeson County. It will be a 50-MW (ac) photovoltaic array. It will consist of approximately two hundred thirty three thousand three hundred and twenty (233,320) 300W (dc) PV modules (or equivalent) affixed to ground mounted racks supported on driven piles. The facility will utilize approximately sixty (60) 833kWac inverters (or equivalent).
The facility is projected to come online in December 2016. Electricity generated will be sold to Duke Energy Progress under a power purchase agreement, the application said. There are currently no provisions for wheeling of the electricity generated. The service life of the equipment is expected to be a minimum of twenty-five years. The projected annual sales of the facility are 105,255,815 kWh.
An attachment to the application covered the backgrounds of the Cypress Creek Renewables executives, including:
- Matthew McGovern (CEO) oversees all operations and investor relations for Cypress Creek Renewables. Prior to forming Cypress, he served as the CFO of Paramount Equity from December 2012 through April 2014. As CFO of Paramount, he launched the firm’s first tax equity fund with US Bank in March 2013. Before joining Paramount, he was the CFO of Gehrlicher Solar America Corp. from 2010 to 2012, where he developed and financed over 40 MW of utility-scale and commercial solar projects.
- Michael Cohen (Principal) is instrumental in business development, financing and strategic initiatives. Prior to Cypress, he led business development and project finance for Strata Solar from 2011 to 2014. Before building Strata’s development and finance model, he was an attorney with Kirkland & Ellis from 2008 through 2011.
- Patrick McConnell (Managing Director) is responsible for managing project investment and asset management at Cypress. Prior to Cypress, he led renewable energy finance and solar development for Stonehenge Capital Co. and its sister development company, Heelstone Energy. Prior to that he was a managing director at Carrboro Capital, a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on buyouts in the Southeast.
- David Bunge (Vice President of Development) is responsible for managing the development team at Cypress. He has been active in solar project development since 2007. Prior to joining Cypress Creek, he founded Solexus Development where he was responsible for development and execution of Missouri’s largest solar facility in Springfield.
A project contact is: David Bunge, Biggs Solar LLC, 3250 Ocean Park Blvd., Suite 355, Santa Monica, CA 90405, 636.474.9067, bunge@ccrnrenew.com.
