{"id":5111,"date":"2013-09-26T16:06:03","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T16:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=5111"},"modified":"2013-09-26T16:06:03","modified_gmt":"2013-09-26T16:06:03","slug":"setting-the-pace-on-clean-energy-finance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/09\/26\/setting-the-pace-on-clean-energy-finance\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting the PACE on Clean Energy Finance"},"content":{"rendered":"

This commentary originally appeared on EDF’s California Dream 2.0 blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I spend most of my time working to establish\u00a0On-Bill Repayment<\/a>\u00a0programs that allow property owners to use their utility bill to repay loans for cost-saving energy efficiency or renewable energy upgrades.\u00a0 Many of my colleagues work on a similar program known as Property Assessed Clean Energy (\u201cPACE\u201d), which uses the property tax bill for repayment.\u00a0 Since both utility and property tax bills are usually paid, both PACE and OBR are expected to lower the cost and increase the availability of financing for clean energy projects.<\/p>\n

Last week, I was invited to attend a meeting of the leading PACE program administrators, property owners and other market participants in the country \u2014 and was pleasantly surprised to learn how much progress is being made.<\/p>\n

Connecticut launched<\/a>\u00a0their program in January and is expected to close $20 million of PACE transactions for commercial properties by year end.\u00a0 The Toledo, Ohio area expects to have executed $18 million of commercial transactions by the end of 2013.\u00a0 Sonoma County, with a population of less than 500,000, has already completed $64 million of financings for residential and commercial properties.\u00a0 In late 2012,\u00a0CaliforniaFIRST<\/a>\u00a0launched a PACE program for commercial properties that has already received 130 applications.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We also heard from the head of\u00a0Keep PACE in Texas<\/a>\u00a0who recently sponsored legislation to enable PACE in the state.\u00a0 PACE, like OBR, uses private funding to allow property owners to voluntarily retrofit their properties.\u00a0 This makes the program popular with many conservatives and the legislation was able to pass with a unanimous vote from the Texas House of Representatives in May.<\/p>\n

Historically, most of the PACE transactions have gone toward financing energy efficiency improvements.\u00a0\u00a0As I wrote in May,<\/a>\u00a0Connecticut has set up their PACE program to include financing solar projects as well \u2013 using financing structures (leases and power purchase agreements) that tend to provide the lowest-cost solutions for building owners.\u00a0 Last week, I learned that CaliforniaFIRST and other California-based PACE programs may now be able to offer the same solution for commercial property owners across the state.\u00a0 This could dramatically increase the availability of financing for solar projects in commercial properties.<\/p>\n

Most solar deals are financed over 20 years.\u00a0 For properties with good credit, this works well as solar photovoltaic (PV) panels have a long lifespan and solar generation can be predicted accurately.\u00a0 Most government buildings tend to have good credit and can usually finance solar with no money down.\u00a0 Unfortunately, unless a commercial property is owned or leased by a highly-rated company, the\u00a0property does not normally qualify for financing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PACE programs can put an obligation onto the property tax bill that survives all changes in ownership and allows most properties to qualify for credit.\u00a0 I am hopeful that PACE will be a game changer for solar installations for commercial properties in California. Ultimately, these improvements will save property owners money by reducing their energy consumption, put Californians to work and lower harmful pollution in the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This commentary originally appeared on EDF’s California Dream 2.0 blog. I spend most of my time working to establish\u00a0On-Bill Repayment\u00a0programs that allow property owners to use their utility bill to repay loans for cost-saving energy efficiency or renewable energy upgrades.\u00a0 Many of my colleagues work on a similar program known as Property Assessed Clean Energy …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6407,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,254,55217],"tags":[84843,27599,45561],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california","category-energy-efficiency","category-on-bill-repayment-2","tag-energy-efficiency","tag-obr","tag-pace"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSetting the PACE on Clean Energy Finance - Energy Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/09\/26\/setting-the-pace-on-clean-energy-finance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Setting the PACE on Clean Energy Finance - Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This commentary originally appeared on EDF’s California Dream 2.0 blog. I spend most of my time working to establish\u00a0On-Bill Repayment\u00a0programs that allow property owners to use their utility bill to repay loans for cost-saving energy efficiency or renewable energy upgrades.\u00a0 Many of my colleagues work on a similar program known as Property Assessed Clean Energy ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/09\/26\/setting-the-pace-on-clean-energy-finance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-26T16:06:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2013\/07\/Brad-Copithorne-200x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad Copithorne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brad Copithorne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/26\\\/setting-the-pace-on-clean-energy-finance\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/26\\\/setting-the-pace-on-clean-energy-finance\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brad Copithorne\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b54b55529547d9cf8664944294453b3b\"},\"headline\":\"Setting the PACE on Clean Energy Finance\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-26T16:06:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/26\\\/setting-the-pace-on-clean-energy-finance\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":500,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/26\\\/setting-the-pace-on-clean-energy-finance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/07\\\/Brad-Copithorne-200x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Energy Efficiency\",\"OBR\",\"PACE\"],\"articleSection\":[\"California\",\"Energy Efficiency\",\"On-bill repayment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/26\\\/setting-the-pace-on-clean-energy-finance\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/26\\\/setting-the-pace-on-clean-energy-finance\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/26\\\/setting-the-pace-on-clean-energy-finance\\\/\",\"name\":\"Setting the PACE on Clean Energy Finance - 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