Justin Gerdes, Contributor   Independent journalist specializing in energy and the environment

Last week, two events gave notice that rumors of the death of PACE financing, one of the most promising policies available to fund energy retrofits, have been greatly exaggerated.

On January 20, a federal district court in California ordered the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to initiate a “full-blown” rulemaking process on PACE financing. Yesterday, the notice of the proposed rulemaking was published in the Federal Register. The week before, on January 19, San Diego-based Figtree Energy Resource Company announced a deal involving a first-of-its-kind, multi-city commercial PACE bond.

First, some back story.

Rarely have energy policy wonks been so excited. In October 2007, that City of Berkeley announced its intention to create what it called a Sustainable Energy Financing District. Based on an idea credited to Cisco DeVries, then chief of staff to Mayor Tom Bates, the scheme appeared to offer a breathtakingly simple and elegant solution to a seemingly intractable problem: the steep upfront cost of clean energy and efficiency projects.

PACE financing offers homeowners a way to install energy upgrades, such as rooftop solar panels, without the steep upfront costs. Credit: groSolar/DOE

PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) programs, as DeVries’ brainchild are now known, proliferated; today, legislation enabling the programs has been passed in 27 states. PACE financing enables property owners to take out a loan, usually via city- or state-organized bonds, to pay for solar panels, insulation, energy-efficient HVAC systems, or other improvements. Loans are repaid, typically over 20 years, through an annual supplemental property tax assessment.

DeVries’ beautiful solution, however, soon hit a snag. In July 2010, FHFA ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not to underwrite mortgages for homes with PACE loans. FHFA was concerned that in most states with PACE programs the liens resulting from the PACE program loans have priority over mortgages – the PACE lender would be paid ahead of the bank, or Fannie or Freddie, in the case of foreclosure.   Read More

Comment: Scary to read about a huge glitch in great financing opportunity. Ann Arbor has implemented the PACE program but only for commercial/business buildings so this is not going to affect this area much but hopefully this can be straightened out federally so the program can be extended to homeowners in Ann Arbor as well. – Val

Filed under: Alternative, Ann Arbor, Business, clean energy, Commercial, Corporate, energy, energy efficiency, Federal, green energy, home comfort, Michigan, PACE, Renewable, Solar, solar panel, solar space heating, Washtenaw County Tagged: alternative, Ann Arbor, business ]]> https://bysolar.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/powerful-solar-financing-program-for-homeowners-gets-reprieve-forbes/feed/ 0 bysolar Todd Woody https://bysolar.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/grand-rapids-ramps-go-electric/ https://bysolar.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/grand-rapids-ramps-go-electric/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:03:16 +0000 Iamsolar http://bysolar.wordpress.com/?p=421 Continue reading →]]> Grand Rapids Ramps Go Electric.

A group of middle school students from Grand Rapids Public School’s Center for Economicology crowded around Mayor George Heartwell on Tuesday to hear him announce five new Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV) charging stations downtown.  Second Ward Commissioners Rosalynn Bliss and Ruth Kelly, as well as a representative from Cascade Engineering, were also on hand for the press conference.

“We have to keep up with the demand for electric cars,” he told the students. “I bet by the time you guys are driving, 10 percent of the cars will be electric cars.”

Reblogged from 723springstreet:

What a day this last Tuesday was for solar PV generation.  The system generated 41.5 kWh which is one of the top days since going live in August.  46.5 kWh is the biggest production to date from October 1st. It’s going to be a great production day when you see a perfect bell shape like this … there was not a cloud in the sky all day. The average daily electrical usage for 723 Spring Street is 48.5 kWh over the last 24 months.  I pay an average rate of $.08/kWh because of our discounted geothermal …

Our customer blogs about his #solar electric system performance in Ann Arbor in early January.

A solar PV system owner in snowy Michigan describes how they perform after a snow storm. Thanks for sharing!

As explained by “The Story of Stuff” and Annie Leonard

By Alex Morales – Nov 25, 2011 8:13 AM ET

Renewable energy is surpassing fossil fuels for the first time in new power-plant investments, shaking off setbacks from the financial crisis and an impasse at the United Nations global warming talks.

Electricity from the wind, sun, waves and biomass drew $187 billion last year compared with $157 billion for natural gas, oil and coal, according to calculations by Bloomberg New Energy Finance using the latest data. Accelerating installations of solar- and wind-power plants led to lower equipment prices, making clean energy more competitive with coal.

“The progress of renewables has been nothing short of remarkable,” United Nations Environment Program Executive Secretary Achim Steiner said in an interview. “You have record investment in the midst of an economic and financial crisis.”

The findings indicate the world is shifting toward consuming more renewable energy even without a global agreement on limiting greenhouse gases. Delegates from more than 190 nations converge in Durban, South Africa, on Nov. 28 to discuss new measures for limiting emissions damaging the climate.

Subsidizing the Boom

The renewables boom, spurred by about $66 billion of subsidies last year, intensified competition between wind- turbine and solar-panel manufacturers, gutting margins from the biggest producers led by Vestas Wind Systems A/S and First Solar Inc. (FSLR) The 95-member WilderHill New Energy Index (NEX) of renewable- energy stocks has tumbled 40 percent this year, steeper than the 14 percent drop in the MSCI World Index.

The zeal to replace fossil fuels, which take millions of years to form from dead organic matter, belies the failed efforts at the UN talks to broker a deal that would limit carbon dioxide emissions from coal and oil blamed for global warming. Without a deal, existing pollution caps under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expire next year.

For full article

By Ucilia Wang, Contributor
January 5, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO — Venture capital investors put solar on top as the sector that received the most dollars globally in 2011, but a lack of stellar initial public offerings means investors have to pump in more money while waiting for their companies to exit, said Sheeraj Haji, CEO of Cleantech Group, on Thursday.

Investments in solar totaled $1.81 billion in 111 deals in 2011, followed by energy efficiency with $1.46 billion in 150 deals and transportation with $1.12 billion in 61 deals, according to preliminary numbers from the Cleantech Group.  Money that solar companies received accounted for about 20 percent of the overall venture capital raised worldwide in 2011, Haji said during a press conference to discuss venture capital investments for 2011.

Two themes have remained true for solar and overall venture capital investments throughout 2011:  more money for later-stage deals and fewer attempts to go public.

The top three solar deals of the year went to BrightSource, which raised $201 million, Stion with $130 million, and MiaSole with $106 million. All three California companies already had raised multiple rounds before lining up more funding last year, and BrightSource is waiting to go public.

Solar inverter maker, Enphase Energy, also filed to go public last year but began raising a private round in late 2011.

For full article: Go to

By Ryan J. Stanton
Political Reporter

The Ann Arbor City Council on Monday supported the final step to fully implement the city’s new Property Assessed Clean Energy program.

A resolution approved by council sets the application fees for the PACE program, which is a special financing mechanism to help commercial property owners in Ann Arbor undertake energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

Through the PACE program, qualifying property owners are able to borrow money for energy efficiency projects ranging from $10,000 to $350,000 and then pay back the loans through special assessments added onto their tax bills for up to 10 years.

Andrew Brix

The program is a joint effort of the city of Ann Arbor and Clean Energy Coalition. City officials believe the availability of PACE financing will support economic stimulation across the city, create jobs and reduce operating costs for business owners.For full article go to: Link

January 4, 2012

Renewables now provide 12% of domestic energy production, 14% more than 2010; and renewable electrical output increased 25%, which contributes to 13% of U.S. power.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — According to the most recent issue of the “Monthly Energy Review” by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), with data through September 30, 2011, renewable energy sources continue to expand rapidly while substantially outpacing the growth rates of fossil fuels and nuclear power.

For the first nine months of 2011, renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass/biofuels, geothermal, solar, water, wind) provided 11.95% of domestic U.S. energy production. That compares to 10.85% for the same period in 2010 and 10.33% in 2009. By comparison, nuclear power provided just 10.62% of the nation’s energy production in the first three quarters of 2011 — i.e., 11.10% less than renewables.

For full article

By Stephen Lacey, Climate Progress

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Just weeks after the solar industry installed the one millionth system in Germany, the country’s solar trade association announced that the technology accounted for three percent of total energy generation in 2011 — increasing 60 percent over 2010 to 18.6 terawatt-hours (18.6 billion kilowatt-hours).