CaliforniaFirst PACE Program Finances Clean Energy Projects For Commercial Property

Property assessed clean energy (PACE) programs are an innovative mechanism for financing energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements on private property. They also present a number of challenges to investors—for one, the variance between different programs (even within a particular state) and an understanding as to how particular programs work remains an impediment to investors and to scalability. This post provides a brief overview of PACE programs generally and one particularly popular PACE program – CaliforniaFirst.

Overview of PACE

PACE programs vary by state, but most allow property owners to finance clean energy projects through a voluntary property assessment paid as a line item on their property tax bills. Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia have enacted PACE-enabling legislation and there are active PACE programs in 19 states and the District of Columbia. While most of these states provide financing for commercial PACE projects,