Synopsis

Since its founding in 2019, Philadelphia-based Doral Renewables has become a leader in the renewable energy sector, partnering with communities to bring its solar power and battery storage projects to 20 states. Because of the company’s focus on a practice called agrivoltaics, Doral doesn’t just lease the land it occupies—it also enhances it. Agrivoltaics involves implementing traditional farming practices in and around solar projects to maximize land use, preserve heritage farming, and generate additional revenue streams and economic opportunities for local communities.

Doral’s work requires a significant amount of capital. Read how Truist Securities’ Power & Renewables Investment Banking team helped meet the company’s financial needs with an integrated approach that married capital solutions with industry-specific advisory services.

Challenges

  • Doral’s solar projects are capital intensive, requiring hundreds of millions of dollars to get off the ground.
  • The company needed a capital partner that could help meet both project financing and corporate financing needs with a long-term focus.
  • Doral also wanted a knowledgeable investor that matched its relationship-based culture and values.

Solutions

  • Truist Securities shared Doral’s story with a qualified group of potential investors.
  • The bank served as exclusive placement agent on a $400 million minority equity investment by Dutch pension provider APG.
  • Truist Securities provides ongoing financial and advisory support, including debt financing as needed to fund projects in Doral’s pipeline.

About Doral Renewables

Doral Renewables’ solar project in Indiana.
  • Leadership: Nick Cohen, President and CEO
    Evan Speece, Chief Financial Officer
  • Headquarters: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Founded: 2019
  • Industry: Renewable energy
  • Employees: 57
  • Website: doral-llc.com
  • Relationship: Truist client since 2024
  • Truist partner: Andrew Rosenbaum, Managing Director, Power and Renewables Investment Banking
Component ID : "accordionGridLayout-726809997"
Model : "disclaimer"
Position : "left"

Audio description: Light music begins.

Visual description: The Truist logo appears in the center of the screen in front of a purple background, then fades to reveal an aerial view of a windmill silhouetted against a sunny sky. Green farm fields stretch out to the horizon.

Andrew Rosenbaum: Truist’s purpose is to build better lives and communities.

Visual description: Andrew is being interviewed in a rustic, brick-walled space.

On-screen text: Andrew Rosenbaum, Managing Director, Power and Renewables Investment Banking, Truist Securities.

Andrew: I can’t think of an opportunity, I can’t think of a transaction, where that is more obvious than with what we did with Doral.

Visual description: Scene changes to reveal an aerial view of green farm fields stretching to the horizon. Sheep graze in the lower right-hand corner. As the camera pans left, vertical rows of solar panels appear in the farm fields. The scene changes to reveal a close-up of sheep grazing in the field, with solar panels visible in the distance.

Andrew: Working with the farming community to build solar panels, it’s not just helpful to the environment, but it’s also critical to helping farmers maintain a cherished way of life.

Audio description: Light music continues.

Visual description: Andrew is seen walking between two men, Nick Cohen and Evan Speece, through a grassy field. A fence post is visible in the foreground, with a farm building, fencing, and trees in the background.

On-screen text: Revitalizing communities through renewable energy. A Truist client success story.

Visual description: Scene changes to reveal an aerial shot of a combine harvester driving through a wheat field. Then, close-ups of the man driving the combine and of the combine’s blades cutting through the wheat are seen.

Nick Cohen: A lot of these farms are generational. There’s an emotional and sentimental value to these farms.

Visual description: Nick is being interviewed in a rustic, brick-walled space.

On-screen text: Nick Cohen, President and CEO, Doral Renewables.

Nick: And at the same time, the farms are financially stressed.

Visual description: Two horses, one light brown with a white strip on its nose and the other dark brown, are looking at the camera over a fence with a farm building in the background. The scene changes to show a close-up of the side of a barn with peeling red paint and leafless vines growing on it, followed by a wide shot of the red barn with farm equipment parked outside.

Nick: They don’t want to give up the family farm.

Visual description: An aerial camera view flies above a wheat field and over several rows of solar panels in the neighboring field.

Nick: Our solar projects are going to help them compete with the larger institutional farms.

Visual description: Scene changes to reveal a close-up of a man’s feet as he walks in dress shoes through a grassy field. Andrew, Nick, and Evan are then seen standing together by a green metal fence and looking out into the distance and talking together.

Nick: When the Truist folks actually came out to the farm and they met the farmers, at that point, I knew they understood us.

Visual description: Nick being interviewed.

Nick: And the reason that’s so important is that as we’re looking for investors, we need investors that appreciate that value of relationships, and Truist actually delivered the perfect investor.

Visual description: Nick, Andrew, and Evan are seen walking together through a farm, with fences and trees in the background. A close-up of Evan shows him talking with Andrew on the farm. Then the scene changes to reveal Evan being interviewed in a rustic, brick-walled space.

On-screen text: Evan Speece, Chief Financial Officer, Doral Renewables.

Evan Speece: A lot of the projects that we started developing in the initial outset of the company have now come to fruition and require the capital that’s necessary to construct the projects.

Visual description: Scene changes to reveal a ground-level view of large solar panels in a field. Nick is seen walking by and looking at the panels while wearing a blue hard hat.

Evan: We’ve raised a few different rounds of capital over the last few years. This round of capital was by far, I think, our most important.

Visual description: Evan being interviewed.

Evan: We raised $400 million of capital.

Visual description: Evan, Andrew, and Nick are seen walking and talking together in the farm field

Evan: Truist in many ways was the ideal partner because they understand at their core what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.

Visual description: An aerial shot shows Nick walking between rows of solar panels in a farm field. The scene changes to reveal Andrew being interviewed.

Andrew: They were looking to build a much larger company that would endure over time. We needed to take all of that into consideration as we thought through capital planning and how to help them build a business.

Visual description: Nick, Andrew, and Evan are seen walking and talking together through a grassy farm field with fencing and trees in the background. The scene changes to reveal a close-up shot of Nick’s hands removing a chain from a gate and opening the gate. Then Nick is seen in a field walking with several sheep.

Nick: There is something about getting to know your partners that is lost sometimes in the modern business world.

Visual description: Nick being interviewed.

Nick: And that’s where we can trust that Truist is a real partner that’s taking the time to understand what we’re all about.

Visual description: Scene fades to reveal the Truist Securities logo and title in the center of the screen on a purple background.

On-screen text: Truist Securities. Truist.com/DoralRenewables. Copyright 2025 Truist Securities, Inc., member, FINRA and SIPC. Truist Securities is a federally registered service mark of Truist Financial Corporation. All rights reserved.

Audio description: Light music ends.

Empowering communities for a sustainable future

When Nick Cohen founded Doral Renewables, he vowed his business would stand out in the renewable energy sector.

“This industry is typically very transactional, because the numbers are big and the things we have to accomplish are complicated,” says Nick, president and CEO of Doral. “I wanted to put more value on relationships over transactions. At the end of the day, you have to be able to go out and get mud on your shoes and connect with the farmers.”

That connection is important because Doral’s business relies on leasing portions of property from those farmers to build its large-scale solar farms, each of which supplies an average of 250,000 households with power. As a greenfield independent power producer, Doral starts each project from scratch and oversees everything from the initial siting of land through construction and operating on the power grid. Product development concludes in a boardroom where relationships with investment bankers are also vital. But, for Doral, farmers come first.

“When we begin a project, the initial step is developing a relationship with the farmers within the community and leasing the land,” says Nick. “We can’t do what we do without strong communities. And we need the people in those communities to trust us and understand how we can make their lives better.”

Nick Cohen, president and CEO of Doral Renewables.

“Truist, at their core, cares about the communities and customers they serve. And that’s why this partnership is a perfect match.”
—Nick Cohen, President and CEO, Doral Renewables

The environmental benefits of solar energy are huge, but Nick says he’s most proud of Doral’s work to save family farms. Doral’s solar farms use about 20% of the overall leased land, leaving 80% for the landowner to farm food and other products that otherwise would be competitively difficult for family farms. For many of the farmers Doral partners with, the business arrangement allows them to preserve a sentimental way of life for future generations.

“Everyone we’re dealing with remembers being a kid and growing food on the farm,” says Nick. “Today, they’re growing corn and soybeans, most of which is being converted to ethanol or non-food grade products. It’s a lot of work, and a lot of them are in debt. The income they get from the solar panels enables heritage farming to return.”

Some farmers in Doral’s network are growing new crops, while some are raising sheep and pigs. Others have delved into new ventures like restoring pollinator habitats to help renew declining bee and butterfly populations.

“When the farmers have the financial security not to have to worry where their next check is coming from, it gives them the ability to dream about new things and work on new ideas and projects,” says Evan Speece, chief financial officer at Doral. “When you visit these communities and meet the farmers, you realize how we’re changing lives. It’s not just money; it’s purpose.”

Partnering for a long-range investment

Raising the capital to enable these life-changing projects is Evan’s job—and it’s a big one. He says once the solar farms are up and running, they’re very efficient from a capital perspective. But getting them off the ground takes a tremendous amount of funding.

“We have about 14 gigawatts of projects in the pipeline, so that’s roughly $15 to $20 billion that we’ll need to raise in the next five years,” says Evan. “That’s a lot of money, and the scale is sometimes daunting. But I’ve been doing this a long time, and I think the way you do it is through relationships with good bankers and good people who you trust.”

Evan and the team at Doral found that trusted partner in Andrew Rosenbaum, managing director of Power and Renewables Investment Banking at Truist Securities.

“I knew Evan for 10-plus years prior to him arriving at Doral,” says Andrew. “One of the first things I did when I met with the Doral team was to really try and understand who they were. Nick and Evan want to build a business that will be around for a long time. So that influences everything they do, from how they capitalize the company to how they foster and develop relationships.”

Andrew and the team at Truist provided term loans to finance projects in various stages of development in Doral’s pipeline. But the real challenge hit in 2024, when the company was ready for a larger capital raise. 

Evan Speece, chief financial officer of Doral Renewables.

“When you visit these communities and meet the farmers, you realize how we’re changing lives.”
—Evan Speece, Chief Financial Officer, Doral Renewables

For Doral, finding the right investor was about more than money. It was about finding a capital partner that shared the company’s vision and values. “Everything we did with Doral needed to fit their long-term vision,” says Andrew. “They wanted common equity, which would be very flexible and give them the opportunity to continue to build the business on their terms.”

After an exhaustive search, Truist secured a $400 million minority equity investment by Dutch pension fund APG. As a money manager for Dutch schoolteachers and a long-time investor in the U.S. renewable energy sector, APG brought the experience and perspective Doral was looking for.

“APG not only understands the economics of our business, but they also understand the value of their investment over the long-term,” says Evan. “APG shares our values in many areas. And because of Truist’s understanding of our business, Andrew saw that from the start.”

Building success on in-depth industry knowledge

In addition to understanding Doral’s business, Andrew and his team also bring deep knowledge of Doral’s industry. Truist Securities’ Power and Renewables Investment Banking group focuses on providing a range of financial solutions—including project and corporate capital, tax equity, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory—to companies that develop, own, and operate renewable energy projects.

“Our goal is to make sure that whatever the client needs, we can deliver,” says Andrew. “Being able to provide that full range of services means we can grow a very robust relationship with our clients, like we have with Doral.”

Nick and Evan both say access to Truist’s industry expertise gives Doral a competitive advantage in the market. When common challenges specific to the power and renewables industry arise—such as geopolitical tensions, tariffs on panels, or shifting requirements for interconnection—Doral can draw on Truist’s knowledge of how competitors are confronting the issues.

“When somebody is going to put over $400 million in your business, it’s understandable that they’re concerned about whether you’re able to get panels or if a rule change in the grid is going to block you from success,” says Nick. “Truist has the inside track on what’s happening in the industry, and that’s so important when you’re talking to investors and stakeholders.”

Andrew Rosenbaum, managing director of Power and Renewables Investment Banking at Truist Securities; Nick Cohen, president and CEO of Doral Renewables; Evan Speece, chief financial officer of Doral Renewables.

Looking toward what’s next

That industry insight will be helpful as Doral grows, too, since Evan sees the shift toward larger companies and more consolidation in the future.

“One thing Andrew and I talk about a lot is making sure we’re at the top tier of developers and not losing sight of how we position ourselves competitively,” says Evan. “I think there’s going to be a lot of M&A and consolidation, and we want to make sure we’re on the positive end of that activity.”

Andrew Rosenbaum, managing director of Power and Renewables Investment Banking at Truist Securities.

“Our goal is to make sure that whatever the client needs, we can deliver.”
—Andrew Rosenbaum, Managing Director of Power and Renewables Investment Banking, Truist Securities

Nick, Evan, and Andrew foresee more capital raises to ensure Doral continues to grow and thrive, but the minority equity investment from APG has already put the company on a path to success.

“The investment allows us to contribute our equity portion and continue to own our solar projects, which is important for our sustainability as a company,” says Nick. “It also provides the capital to grow and accelerate our business. It’s a holistic solution.”

As Doral grows, Nick and Evan say maintaining the company’s culture of caring for communities is a crucial goal. And finding partners—like APG and Truist—who share a complementary mission is one of the first steps to meeting that objective.

“If you want to maximize profit over the long run, you have to inject caring into the outcome,” says Nick. “Truist, at their core, cares about the communities and customers they serve. And that’s exactly what matters to us. And that’s why this partnership is a perfect match.”

The results

  • Mammoth North Solar, the first phase of Doral’s Mammoth Solar Project in Indiana, became operational in October 2024. It was Doral’s first project to achieve commercial operations.
  • Initial and future investments from APG will help Doral continue to fund development and construction of more than 45 solar projects in the pipeline.

How your business can get there

Nick Cohen, president and CEO of Doral Renewables.

Nick’s advice: Select an advisor who cares about your business and takes the time to understand what you’re all about—beyond the cover of the book. Their passion for your work helps them find the right partners and investors.

How can our in-depth insights support your long-term growth?

Our team of corporate and investment bankers advises corporations and financial sponsors on a wide range of solutions, from working capital to complex long-term capital strategies, as well as mergers and acquisitions and capital-raising initiatives.

Learn more

Purple PaperSM Digital Transformation

Learn how you can put advanced technology to work for your business.

Related resources

Strategic Advice

4 equity financing strategies for early-stage businesses

Strategic advice

When to invest personal capital back into your company

Strategic advice

How can you minimize complexity while embracing growth?