Counties

THE Delaware C-PACE / COUNTY GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP

Delaware C-PACE is an innovative program that can help your county create new jobs and improve the environment. Under this program, commercial, industrial, agricultural, nonprofit and multifamily (with five or more units) property owners gain access to affordable, long-term financing for eligible energy efficiency and renewable energy building improvements. For a property owner to take advantage of this program, the county in which the building is located will have voluntarily passed a resolution to participate in the program.

How C-PACE works

Commercial property assessed clean energy, or C-PACE, is a private financing program for energy improvements that has been adopted by more than 30 states, including Delaware.

The financing is provided by private capital providers in an open market, thereby providing property owners with competitive financing. The financing is secured by using the government’s ability to place a voluntary benefit assessment and assignable lien on the owner’s property. The project is repaid to the capital provider over a term typically based on the useful life of the improvements and can extend up to 25 years.

Because the long-term financing can cover up to 100 percent of a building’s modernization project cost and often requires no money down, C-PACE may enable property owners to make substantial upgrades to their buildings. The project’s energy savings may outweigh the C-PACE payments, which creates positive cash flow for the property owner, whose upgraded building may be more appealing to tenants and new businesses after a C-PACE project.

Participating County

As defined by the 2018 Delaware Energy Act, “Participating County” means a county that has, as approved by its legislative body, entered into a written County Participation Agreement and Resolution, with the Delaware C-PACE program.

Once a county has become a participating county, Delaware C-PACE will promote the program to building owners, contractors, developers and capital providers. As projects emerge and the owner and contractor have agreed on the scope of work and the costs, the owner and the capital provider will execute a C-PACE Assessment and Financing Agreement. Following the closing, the county will be responsible, for: a) recording the C-PACE assessment lien in the county land records and b) the ongoing billing, collection and remittance of C-PACE assessment payments.

The county will be reimbursed for such costs reasonably incurred in performing such duties.

Benefits

C-PACE projects benefit your community’s economy by stimulating new investment in high efficiency energy-consuming equipment and renewable energy projects. Such projects create new jobs, improve the environment, and have been shown to improve tenant comfort and occupancy rates. Moreover, lower energy consumption results in less demand on the grid and improved reliability for the community. In addition, it reduces the building’s emissions, which improves the local air quality. Nationwide more than 30 states have PACE-enabling legislation and many other state and county governments are considering enabling legislation.

How to Participate

The Delaware C-PACE program is administered by Energize Delaware which is responsible for all outreach, education, and stakeholder support services. The opt-in process involves signing the County Participation Agreement and passing a resolution. You may download these documents here.

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Questions? Contact us today or visit our FAQs page.