The Chester County commissioners recently approved a resolution calling for the county to participate in C-PACE, a clean energy financing program for commercial properties. C-PACE, which stands for Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy, is a financial tool for commercial property owners to obtain low-cost, long-term financing for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation projects. C-PACE can facilitate a loan for a project by placing a voluntary lien on the property that repays the costs of the upgrades.
Pennsylvania is one of more than 30 states that has enabled C-PACE. Four public-sector and nonprofit organizations have collaborated to develop the program in the state: Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance (KEEA), Philadelphia Energy Authority, City of Pittsburgh Sustainability Commission, and Sustainability Energy Fund. Chester County is the first county in the southeastern Pennsylvania region to adopt this program.
The Sustainable Energy Fund will administer the program in Chester County and connect project developers to authorized contractors and lenders. Sustainable Energy Fund has lent money throughout Pennsylvania for such programs for two decades.
Nationally, nearly a billion dollars has been invested through C-PACE loans. In Chester County, C-PACE investment could help retrofit older building stock and accelerate growth in a local energy efficiency industry that already accounts for thousands of jobs.
Chester County's resolution authorizes the establishment of a property-assessed clean energy program in the county and further directs necessary county personnel to move forward to effect a county-wide C-PACE program. The C-PACE program makes financing energy efficiency easier, which means more work for companies that retrofit buildings, sell high-efficiency equipment, and design smart buildings.
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