Hartford Business Journal

8 COnnECTiCUT GREEn GUiDE • SprinG 2015 www.CTGreenGuide.com incentive dollars and eventually for private capital. "The beautiful thing about PACE is it allows gov- ernment to do what it does best in setting the rules and it allows private markets to do what they do best by scaling the program," Bailey said. C-PACE works by providing long-term, low-interest loans to business property owners to make efficiency upgrades and install renewable energy systems. The hook is the annual payments on the loan are lower than the annual savings the property owners achieve by making the energy upgrades, so there is no extra cost to the property owner. The loan is tied to the property tax bill, so if the owner decides to sell the building, the next owner takes over payments. Paul Breglio, president of Crest Mechanical, took out three C-PACE loans totaling $740,000 to put solar sys- tems on his buildings in Hartford and Norwich. Unlike typical government programs, Breglio said the process to get the loans and install solar was seamless. "Jessica came to my office and talked to me, and she just cut through the red tape," Breglio said. "When I dealt with the C-PACE team, it was a breath of fresh air. It always seemed to go smoothly." Through it first two years, C-PACE allocated $65 mil- lion for more than 90 energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, including installing 6 megawatts of re- newable energy. Because the program is tied to the prop- erty tax bills, Bailey and her team had to convince the state's cities and towns to voluntarily join the program. So far, 105 of the 169 cities and towns have joined, cover- ing 90 percent of the commercial property in the state. Much like the Clean Fund securitizing C-PACE loans, Bailey said now is the time for private enterprise to take over PACE programs, so government no longer have to provide the capital to make them function. Since leaving the Green Bank at the end of January, Bai- ley has worked to start her private enterprise called Green- works Lending. It will be a hybrid origination financing shop, sourcing capital for PACE projects around the country. Right now she is building partnerships with private contractors and sourcing capital with attractive rates, along with doing typical startup activities, like picking a Greenworks brand and setting up a Web site. "We are definitely in a slow build," Bailey said. The Green Bank still is searching for a replacement to Bailey as the C-PACE director. Genevieve Rose Sherman has taken over as acting director and may get the permanent position, Garcia said, but he wants to have a strong compe- tition among candidates for such an important position. "Genevieve is incredible and has a lot of the same traits you saw in Jessica," Garcia said. The C-PACE program received another $40 million warehouse from the Green Bank board of directors to continue financing projects while the organization adds more private capital partners. Garcia said he is expect- ing more applications from businesses looking to install fuel cells and set up microgrids on their campuses. "Ultimately, our goal is to have the private market out making deals with property owners and us getting out of the way," Garcia said. "At the end of the day, in order to solve the climate problem, we need more and more private investors because government can't do it all." News Cycle Paul Breglio, president of Crest Mechanical, said the C-PACE program will continue to be successful after Jessica Bailey left as long as it keeps the bureaucracy to a minimum. PHOTO | COnTRiBUTED

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