Delaware Governor John Carney recently signed Senate Bill 113 into law. The law allows Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C- PACE) financing in Delaware.
PACE will offer a new method for financing commercial energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
PACE is a voluntary way to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects on commercial properties. PACE loans are funded by private lenders and are paid back through a voluntary assessment on the property’s county tax bill.
Delaware’s PACE legislation was crafted with input from various stakeholders, including national experts, and has received broad support from the business community, a release from the Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility.
With the signing of the bill, Delaware joins the ranks of the 34 other states that have signed PACE enabling legislation. The Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility (DESEU) will serve as the administrator of the PACE program.
PACENation, the national organization that advocates for PACE, reports that since 2009 more than $688 million has been invested in clean energy projects nationwide. The group estimates that PACE projects have created 10,300 jobs, generated more than 6.3 million megawatt hours of energy savings, and reduced CO2 emissions by more than 3.1 million metric tons (the equivalent of taking 657,000 cars off the road for one year.
“Our next step is to begin working on the program design,” says Tony DePrima, executive director of the DESEU. “We hope to have PACE up and running in the first quarter of 2019.”
The Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility is a non-profit that helps Delawareans save money through clean energy and energy efficiency. Further information is available at www.EnergizeDelaware.com.
