Energy Exchange

NYCEEC, NY State Green Bank Clear the Way for Clean Energy Financing of Retrofits

By EDF Blogs / Published: February 26, 2014

By: Susan Leeds, CEO of the New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC)

Source: AtisSun

Source: AtisSun

As New York City gets repeatedly hammered by snow, ice and the evil “wintry mix,” one could almost forget the world is warming at an ever faster clip. But the experts in the room earlier this month at the roundtable discussion on ‘Economics of Energy Retrofits’ at Urban Green Council (New York’s chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council) know the debate is over. Climate change is real and the window for action is closing. That’s why it’s more important than ever to work toward removing barriers to clean energy financing now.

As the De Blasio administration strives to build a more affordable New York City it’s important to note that clean energy building upgrades are central to this mission. By reducing energy use, building owners and their tenants can realize millions of dollars in annual savings while slashing dangerous carbon pollution for cleaner air and water. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing, On-bill repayment, Utility Business Models / Comments are closed

EDF’s Energy Efficiency Protocols Serve as a Model at ESCO Europe 2014

By EDF Blogs / Published: February 6, 2014

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant 

1ICP LogoAs interest in and adoption of EDF’s Investor Confidence Project (ICP) protocols has continued to grow in the United States, so too has interest internationally. The Investor Confidence Project was invited to showcase our efforts at ESCO Europe, the continent’s largest conference for energy service providers. This year, the conference was held in Barcelona, Spain and drew an array of participants from across Europe and the public and private sectors, including representatives from finance companies, governments, and non-profits with interests in the energy industry.

I was privileged to serve as both a panelist in a roundtable discussion on barriers to ESCO financing, and a speaker on “Improving Access to Finance,” a well-attended session with representatives from the European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and European Energy Efficiency Fund.

EDF was invited to attend this conference based on a series of conversations over the last year with European stakeholders facing the same barriers to investing in energy efficiency as their American counterparts. With policymakers in Europe similarly counting on a vast expansion of the market in building retrofits and an expected influx of private and public capital, there is a focus on standardization and policies that can enable capital and investors to enter the market with fewer transaction costs. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing / Read 1 Response

$200 Million in Private Capital Financing Signals Investors’ Support for Clean Energy

By Victor A. Rojas / Published: January 29, 2014
(Credit: www.poonamsagar.com)

(Source: www.poonamsagar.com)

While 2014 is only just getting underway, it is already shaping up to be a banner year for clean energy finance. Capital investments are being made, funds developed, and securitization tools crafted — all with remarkable speed. And private capital markets are aggressively rallying around these efforts, which will only increase the momentum of our collective efforts to drive investments into essential energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

Funding for homeowner energy efficiency loans could lead to securitization

Early this year, clean energy consumer finance company, Kilowatt Financial, closed a $100 million deal with  Citi to finance 10-12 year unsecured loans of up to $30,000 for homeowners making energy efficiency improvements to their HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems, water heaters, windows, roofing, insulation, lighting, and appliances.

The transaction is designed to facilitate a securitization of loans (which promotes liquidity in the marketplace), help establish a secondary market, and spur energy efficiency investments. Kilowatt and Citi expect to create term asset-backed securities from the loans that will provide a sustainable source of capital for homeowners looking to make home energy upgrades. Read More »

Also posted in Energy Efficiency, General, On-bill repayment, Renewable Energy / Tagged , | Comments are closed

Upcoming Webinar: How Commercial PACE and ICP are Raising Investor Confidence in Energy Efficiency

By EDF Blogs / Published: January 16, 2014

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant

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The Investor Confidence Project (ICP) and Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs offer many opportunities for collaboration in the buildings and energy efficiency sector.  We will be exploring this potential for partnership in the upcoming webinar, Commercial PACE: Raising Confidence in Energy Savings to Ramp-Up Investment and Demand, held on January, 30th 2014, at 2pm ET/ 11am PT.

This one-hour, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) / PACEnow webinar is designed to help Commercial PACE administrators, investors, project developers and building owners understand how standardization can facilitate multiple stakeholder alignment, ensure underwriting needs are met and enable energy efficiency investment while lowering transaction costs.  It will include a brief presentation on EDF’s Investor Confidence Project, followed by panel discussion focusing on how Commercial PACE programs are using ICP to address the owner and investor projected savings-confidence challenge, which has been an impediment to energy retrofit financing nationwide.  Moreover, the panel will share how ICP is enabling energy efficiency financing to become a mainstream financial asset class with the high degree of standardization, predictability and scale that investors demand. Read More »

Also posted in Energy Efficiency / Tagged | Comments are closed

New Protocol Will Help Create Investor Confidence in Small-Scale Energy Efficiency Retrofits

By EDF Blogs / Published: January 8, 2014

##logoBy: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant

The Investor Confidence Project (ICP), which aims to bring transparency and accountability to the energy efficiency market by introducing a system of standardization, is pleased to announce the release of the Energy Performance Protocol for Targeted Commercial projects.  Unlike whole building retrofits, targeted commercial projects are typically projects that can upgrade a single measure, such as lighting or windows, or multiple measures that are very basic. The protocols standardize how projects are baselined, engineered, installed, operated and measured, and are aimed at boosting investor confidence in the resulting savings.

The Targeted Commercial Protocol complements the ICP’s two existing Energy Performance Protocols: 1) Large Commercial Protocol, which involves a whole building retrofit greater than $1 million and with annual energy savings of more than 20%, and 2) Standard Commercial Protocol, which is a whole building retrofit priced at below $1 million.

The Targeted Commercial Protocol further develops the ICP family of protocols and addresses the range of project types increasingly common in the growing energy efficiency retrofit marketplace. Reflecting market realities for smaller projects, this protocol was developed in collaboration with industry experts, including organizations that are part of the ICP Ally Network.  It strikes a balance between the need to minimize overhead for less complex projects, while maintaining the necessary rigor to attract investment for smaller projects.  Read More »

Also posted in Energy Efficiency / Tagged | Comments are closed

EDF’s Energy Efficiency Protocols Gain Traction

By EDF Blogs / Published: December 19, 2013

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant, Environmental Defense Fund

Source: Spark Energy

Source: Spark Energy

Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) Investor Confidence Project (ICP) aims to bring transparency and accountability to the energy efficiency market by introducing a system of standardization. Traditionally, most energy efficiency analyses are done by the companies selling retrofit services to commercial building owners and investors, resulting in biased results that do not always ensure return on investment (ROI).  Additionally, inconsistencies in the methodology for arriving at these ROI metrics have created barriers to standardizing a measure of success for energy retrofits.

For the first time, ICP’s Energy Performance Protocols were used to leverage financing for a $2 million office building retrofit in Bridgeport, Connecticut.  This new model could accelerate the vast potential of energy efficiency retrofits in commercial buildings.

ICP’s protocols have been developed with broad stakeholder participation including engineers, industry allies, financial market participants, insurers, regulators and utilities.  The protocols aim to significantly increase stakeholder confidence in the resulting savings by: Read More »

Also posted in Energy Efficiency / Tagged | Read 1 Response