NEWS

June 27, 2017 / DOEE Press Release

Mayor Bowser Announces Green Financing Deal for DC United Stadium

Washington, D.C., June 27, 2017 – Today, Mayor Bowser and DC United announced a $25 million private clean energy financing deal for the installation of state-of-the-art energy and water efficiency measures, an 884 KW solar array, and stormwater retention systems at DC United’s 20,000-seat Audi Field soccer stadium. The measures are being funded through the Department of Energy and Environment’s Property Assessed Clean Energy (DC PACE) program. This deal, done through a relationship with locally-based EagleBank, marks the nation’s largest single PACE note issued to date, and the first issued for a stadium project. Read More

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August 18, 2016 / DOEE Press Release

Local Public Charter School Gets Green Upgrade with PACE and SEU

Washington, D.C., August 18, 2016 – Through the efforts of two of the District of Columbia’s Department of Energy and Environment’s (DOEE) programs, a local charter school will save enough money on their energy and water bills to pay for $1.6 million in improvements to their facilities. Today, the DC Property Assessed Clean Energy (DC PACE) financing program and the DC Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU) jointly announced the launch of a major renovation project for the Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School. Read More

July 12, 2016 / DOEE Press Release

The Menkiti Group Sets National Precedent using DC PACE Financing

Washington, D.C., July 12, 2016 – Today, the District of Columbia’s Department of Energy and Environment’s (DOEE) Property Assessed Clean Energy Program (DC PACE) announced $400,000 worth of PACE financing for The Menkiti Group, located at 3401 8 th Street NE in the Brookland neighborhood. The project includes an energy-saving retrofit for local, minority-owned real estate developer, The Menkiti Group, on a property originally financed through a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Section 504 loan. Additional capital improvements include interior and exterior LED lighting, envelope enhancements, HVAC upgrades, and installation of low-flow water fixtures. Read More

June 6, 2016 / Urban Ingenuity

CivicPACE: Cutting Energy Costs for Community-Based Facilities

"Urban Ingenuity, a Bethesda-based firm, is the Montgomery County C-PACE program’s designated partner to provide technical support and financial structuring services for C-PACE projects in non-profit and community-based facilities like public and affordable housing, faith based organizations, health care facilities, charter schools and higher education, and many other non-profit civic organizations. We call this special form of C-PACE “CivicPACE”. Urban Ingenuity has extensive experience in supporting CivicPACE projects in everything from simple boiler replacements, to PACE-secured solar power purchase agreements (PPAs), to deep energy retrofit projects." Read More

April 27, 2016 / Yale Center for Business & the Environment

Property-Assessed Clean Energy Aids the Nonprofit Sector

Clean Energy Finance Forum, Yale Center for Business & the Environment How can social-service organizations tap into property-assessed clean energy (PACE) and achieve substantial savings? PACENation offered a webinar on April 27, “PACE for Nonprofit-Owned Buildings,” in which speakers outlined case studies of the success stories they have put in motion. “There is a strong interest in using PACE in the context of nonprofit properties,” said Bracken Hendricks, president and CEO of Urban Ingenuity. “Often, these are very high-returning projects.” Property owners are frequently paying inflated energy bills due to having old appliances. Read More

April 6, 2016 / Urban Ingenuity & Energize NY

PACE for Nonprofit-owned Buildings: Cutting Energy Costs to Serve Communities

PACENation blog post by Bracken Hendricks, Urban Ingenuity & Mark Thielking, EnergizeNY. Every day nonprofit community-based institutions work hard to raise money and deliver mission-driven programs and services. Whether providing affordable housing for the homeless, assisting at-risk youth in gaining job skills in public charter schools, or ministering to the conscience of a community in houses of worship, these institutions regularly push their internal capacity and strain their budgets just to advance a public mission of service. Read More

March 18, 2016 / Renewable Energy World

CivicPACE Financing: Opening Doors for Clean Energy Technologies

Renewable Energy World, March 18, 2016 I By Lisa Jacobson, President of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy. This past fall, Washington, D.C., made headlines when it utilized property-assessed clean energy (PACE) funding to add solar, high efficiency energy and water systems, and LED lighting to the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA affordable housing complex as part of a $17 million renovation. The YWCA redevelopment is the first project to use PACE financing for a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assisted mixed-finance public housing property. Despite growing from a few million dollars in project closings in 2008 to nearly $2 billion in projects in 2015, PACE has more commonly been used by commercial buildings or individual homeowners. The YWCA project and those like it set a new path for PACE to be utilized by affordable housing programs, and allows for the economic benefits of clean energy to be felt by those who need it most. Read More
 
November 10, 2015 / DOEE Press Release

DC PACE Announces Historic PACE Financing for Public Housing

November 10, 2015 | Washington, D.C. – Today, the District of Columbia’s Property Assessed Clean Energy (DC PACE) Program announced $700,000 in financing for the renovation of the Phyllis Wheatley Young Women’s Christian Association (Phyllis Wheatley YWCA), a community institution that has provided critical housing and supportive services to women for over 100 years. This project marks the first time that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has approved the use of PACE for a HUD-assisted mixed finance public housing property. “Consistent with the President’s Climate Action Plan, HUD continues to enter into initiatives such as PACE and the Better Buildings Challenge. Read More

September 14, 2015 / Huffington Post

Solar Power Today and it's Potential for the Future

September 14, 2015 | One example of a federal program is CivicPACE , a project of the Department of Energy's Sun Shot grant program in collaboration with The Solar Foundation, Urban Ingenuity, and Clean Energy Solutions, Inc. CivicPACE is hosting a workshop at SPI to discuss the challenges and opportunities of financing energy upgrades for nonprofit institutions using Property Assessed Clean Energy (or PACE). This workshop will bring together solar business owners and managers, project developers, financial institutions, and other stakeholders working in the non-profit sector and is being moderated by Ian Fischer, COO of Urban Ingenuity. Read More

August 21, 2015 / Washington Post

New Program Finances Energy Upgrades for District Property Owners

The Washington Post August 21, 2015 | Sergey Nikolaev pays about $1,400 a month for electricity to power the BP gas station, repair shop and carwash he owns along Georgia Avenue NW in Brightwood. Through a new city-government-backed program, Nikolaev will install solar panels on his roof next month in the hope of cutting his electric bill to just $300 a month. Nikolaev will pay no upfront costs for the $157,000 project, and after he repays his loans for the panels over 20 years, he expects to save $56,000. The administration of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) announced Friday that the city’s Property Assessed Energy Act program is officially open for business — and Nikolaev’s soon-to-be-retrofitted gas station is its first client. The PACE program, which is tied to legislation the District approved in 2012, allows the city to finance energy upgrades through property tax bills. “The solar-panel system always made financial sense, but the absence of financing was a big reason why I couldn’t do it before,” Nikolaev said. “It’s definitely saving me money, and it’s beautifying the station.” Read More

August 21, 2015 / DOEE Press Release

Mayor Bowser Announces New Solar Financing Program for DC Businesses

Washington, DC - August 21, 2015 | Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser launched the District’s first energy efficiency and clean energy finance program, DC PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) Commercial. The program will provide 100 percent financing for businesses and commercial property owners to install clean energy upgrades, with no out-of-pocket payments. Managed by DOEE, DC PACE is funding its first new project – a 37kW solar installation for a family-owned BP gas station on Georgia Avenue, NW. The project was financed using private capital from United Bank, and will produce over 40,000 kilowatt hours of renewable electricity every year, cutting the business owner’s electricity bill by more than 40 percent. Read More

January 29, 2015 / The Solar Foundation

The Solar Foundation Selected to Lead $1.2M SunShot Initiative Project

Washington, DC – January 29, 2015 | The Solar Foundation, a national solar energy research and education nonprofit, announced today that it is the recipient of a three-year, $1.2 million funding award from the U.S. Department of Energy, through its SunShot Initiative’s Solar Market Pathways program. The award, announced today by the White House, will be used to open up solar energy markets to non-profit and civic organizations through a financing mechanism known as property assessed clean energy, or PACE." Read More