Tag Archives: Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Financing

‘Bringing back an icon’: $75 million plan to revive Blackstone Hotel, a former hangout for Gold Coast elite

By Cindy Gonzalez, Omaha World-Herald

In addition to TIF [Tax-Increment Financing], the developers seek “enhanced employment area occupation tax financing” amounting to nearly $10 million. Overall, the bulk of funding would come from a construction loan and investor equity, but also helping to fund the project would be about $6.5 million in federal and state historic tax credits and $3.5 million in Property Assessed Clean Energy financing (PACE is a new financing tool used to upgrade energy, water and utility systems in commercial properties).  Read more here.

Photo by Pat Hawks, Flickr

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING

BEATRICE – The City of Omaha is the first to adopt an ordinance allowing its use in Nebraska. The City of Lincoln is considering the same.  Now, Beatrice is being asked to consider Property Assessed Clean Energy financing, or PACE, as another tool for economic development.  It’s described as a low-cost, long-term financing mechanism for energy efficiency or renewable energy projects. Chris Peterson, Managing Partner for Pace Sage Capital in Nebraska, worked as a Legislative Aide to former State Senator Heath Mello when PACE was enabled through state law, making Nebraska the 34th state to enact it.

MORE ABOUT PROPERTY ASSESSED CLEAN ENERGY (PACE) 

PACE was named one of the top 20 “world-changing” ideas by Scientific American magazine.
– PACE Nation

The Peregrine Hotel – First Omaha project to use PACE financing

By Cindy Gonzalez, Omaha World-Herald

About $3.4 million in PACE funds are to fill a gap in the overall $13.6 million cost of converting the seven-story downtown structure to the hotel, said Rob Shear of PACE Sage Capital LLC, which helped arrange the private financing for ViaNova. He said the PACE loan is to close later this month. Shear calls the new financing mechanism, which is used already in some other states, a boost to economic development. He said it can breathe life into commercial projects that otherwise might never get off the ground.

First look: Peregrine boutique hotel at 18th and Douglas is partly financed by new clean-energy program

Photo: Downtown Omaha, Wikimedia Commons

MORE ABOUT PROPERTY ASSESSED CLEAN ENERGY (PACE) 

PACE was named one of the top 20 “world-changing” ideas by Scientific American magazine.
– PACE Nation

Nebraska cities, state lawmakers express growing interest in PACE financing

Written by Karen Uhlenhuth, Midwest Energy News

An ordinance to create the infrastructure for a PACE district — which provides a long-term financing option for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects — is likely to be introduced in the state’s largest city by mid-April. “This seems like a great tool,” said Omaha City Council member Aimee Melton, who has been working for months on developing a PACE program for her hometown. “I believe the council will be supportive.” Several other
cities — including Lincoln, Grand Island and the Omaha suburbs of Papillion, Bellevue and La Vista — also have expressed interest in joining the PACE movement, according to Chris Peterson, a managing partner with PACE SAGE, a loan originator and PACE lender based in Kansas City. Read more here.

Photo by Pat Hawks / Creative Commons: The Omaha City Council is expected next month to consider establishing a Property Assessed Clean Energy financing district. 

MORE NEBRASKA NEWS STORIES BY KAREN UHLENHUTH

Two initiatives could empower more households to go solar

By Dale White, Herald-Tribune

The League of Women Voters of Florida is partnering with Florida Solar United Neighborhoods to encourage residents to band together and form solar cooperatives. Members use their group buying power to get panels installed at a discounted price. They do not have to reside in the same neighborhood . . . Mike Antheil, executive director of the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association and the Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy, encourages residents in the Sarasota-Manatee area to tell their county commissioners to take advantage of what is called PACE (“property assessed clean energy”). Read more here. 

Photo: Mary Dipboye of Florida Solar United Neighborhoods explains Monday how Floridians can form cooperatives to reduce the cost of installing solar panels. Credit: Herald-Tribune / Dale White

GROUP BUYING RESOURCES

PACE RESOURCES

Meeting focuses on solar projects

By Todd von Kampen, North Platte Telegraph

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BROKEN BOW — Nebraskans may disagree over whether humans are causing climate change, say three state lawmakers, but they’re already seeing changes from all the talk in how they use, get and generate their electricity.

If Nebraskans are wise, the lawmakers declared here Tuesday, they can generate another priceless commodity — rural jobs and economic activity — by tapping the state’s renewable-energy potential and upgrading buildings’ energy efficiency with help from a newly approved financing tool. Click to read more.

Photo: Several solar energy projects have come online in Custer County over the past year, including this 650-kilowatt array on the Blakeman Ranch. Courtesy of Innovative Solar LLC.

HERO Program a Fast-Growing Platform for Residential Solar

Newswire Press Release

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The HERO Program is the largest residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) platform in the U.S., having financed more than $1.75 billion in home energy and efficiency improvements across more than 75,000 homes . . . Renovate America is announcing a number of solar products and programs, including the introduction of a 25-year financing term for the HERO Program. This will provide the lowest monthly payment option, making solar more affordable to home owners. Another new program is HERO Direct Pay, which allows contractors to take on new jobs without having to worry about spending cash out of pocket or tying up credit on job materials. Click to learn more.

Missouri project may open door to agricultural PACE financing

Written by Karen Uhlenhuth, Midwest Energy News

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Property-Assessed Clean Energy funding, an increasingly popular tool for financing commercial energy upgrades, may be coming to agriculture. On Thursday morning, Show-Me PACE announced the completion of a comprehensive energy overhaul at a processor of free-range heritage hogs in southwest Missouri. The $4 million project is 10 times the size of the next-largest agricultural PACE project in the nation to date, according to PACENation, which tracks projects across the country. Click here to read more.

Photo by Kyle Spradley / Creative Commons

PACE was named one of the top 20 “world-changing” ideas by Scientific American Magazine. 

YouTube Video: PACE in 90 seconds: What is PACE financing?
PACE video

Nebraska has PACE-enabling legislation but no current financing programs. 

Why The Commercial Solar Market Needs Shorter-Term Loans

By Cameron Ramey, Solar Industry Magazine

Solar Panels

According to industry groups – and Wunder Capital’s experience lending in the space – comparatively anemic solar growth in the commercial market is largely due to limited access to affordable capital, an issue especially true for smaller commercial projects (less that 200 kW in size). Much of the lending for these types of projects is done by local banks and credit unions that make traditional loans based on the business principal’s credit and general business assets. Most of this lending is both inefficient and time consuming. Fortunately, we’re starting to see more solar-specific financing options. For larger commercial projects, there are several solar finance organizations that can be a good fit. In addition, states have started to get on board with loan programs like Nebraska’s Dollar and Energy Savings Loan Program and Colorado’s C-PACE Program. Click to read more.

Cameron Ramey is director of operations at Wunder Capital, a financial technology company that provides financing to commercial solar projects.

Nebraska renewable energy & energy efficiency incentive programs. Source: DSIRE

NEO loansNebraska Dollar and Energy Saving Loans are offered statewide by the Nebraska Energy Office and the state’s lending institutions. The simple interest rates are 2.5%, 3.5% and 5%. Final annual percentage rate (APR) may vary by lender and loan fees charged. For more information, visit: http://www.neo.ne.gov/loan/

Nebraska hopes to close efficiency gap with PACE legislation

Nebraska State CapitolWritten by Karen Uhlenhuth, Midwest Energy News

Nebraska, historically one of the worst-performing states in the U.S. for energy efficiency, may take a step forward with the state legislature’s approval last week of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing.

LB 1012 was passed out of the Nebraska legislature on April 7, and now awaits Gov. Pete Ricketts’ signature. He is expected to endorse it.

Nebraska will join 32 states, including Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin, that also have approved PACE legislation. Similar bills were introduced in the Iowa and Kansas legislatures this session, but made no headway.

Read the entire story here.
Image Credit: Flickr

Final Reading for LB 824
Wind energy bill may have final reading today in Unicameral, by Jerry Oster, Nebraska Radio Network Contributor. “This is probably the most important piece of wind legislation that has come through the legislature,” [Senator Al Davis of Hyannis] says. “It removes most of the regulatory barriers that have prevented wind development in the state. The companies are looking for locations. They want to go into a state where they can do business without a number of onerous regulations and rules that keep them out.” The bill could be up for final reading today and if not, would be up for final reading next Wednesday, the final day of the session.