“Solar development is complicated and challenging, with the potential for all sorts of things to go wrong.  Our job as developers is to overcome these challenges – through creativity, collaboration, and persistence.”

Steve Levitas, Senior VP for Regulatory and Government Affairs at Pine Gate Renewables, is a solar industry veteran and nationally respected authority on energy policy.  Steve has been actively involved in environmental and energy policy for over 35 years, including time with Cypress Creek, FLS, private law practice, and state government.  His breadth of experience with clean energy policy, competitive procurement program design, PURPA implementation, customer programs, and market reform give him a unique ability to bring diverse parties together and build innovative approaches to complicated policy questions.

A regular contributor to the national energy transition discussion, Steve collaborates with other industry experts through his memberships on the boards and committees of the Solar Energy Industries Association, American Clean Power, New Energy Economics, and the Carolinas Clean Energy Business Association.

As founder of the North Carolina office of the Environmental Defense Fund, former Deputy Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources and past member of many environmental and conservation boards, Steve has had a life-long commitment to protecting the natural world. He has also been mastering the art of French cooking since discovering Julia Child at age sixteen and often entertains dinner guests with a selection of the 2000 lines of poetry he has memorized.  Steve and his wife Betsy (whom he met in the eighth grade) split their time between the Asheville mountains and the state capital in Raleigh.