Financing Energy Efficiency
Financing energy-efficiency projects: find your path
Energy-efficient lighting, HVAC, and energy management system upgrades can yield significant long-term cost savings for an institution. But the perennial challenge is funding first costs. At GreenerU, not only do we negotiate with utility companies to find incentives; we also offer several financing opportunities to help institutions save on energy costs as soon as the project is completed—and substantially more after the payment period.
Tax-exempt lease program (TELP)
GreenerU has partnered with the Boston Industrial Development Finance Authority (BIDFA), which developed the tax-exempt lease program, or TELP, to Boston-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations. With this program, nonprofits can obtain the capital necessary to finance energy-saving measures by entering into a performance contract backed by tax-exempt (low-cost) financing including a guarantee that verified energy savings will exceed debt service payments. Energy-saving measures include projects such as efficient upgrades in lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, building energy management and controls, laboratory efficiency, and more. Payment plans can be developed for up to a 20-year timespan.
By utilizing BIDFA, qualified borrowers can finance their capital needs through the issuance of tax exempt or taxable debt, generally resulting in significant interest cost savings. The credit of the borrower, and not that of the City of Boston, BIDFA, or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is pledged to repay the bonds.
GreenerMass
In partnership with MassDevelopment, GreenerMass offers an off-balance-sheet approach to financing small (<$1 million) energy projects, with payments structured such that you pay only for verified energy savings, and payments are always less than savings. GreenerMass is an energy service agreement (ESA) and is open to any qualified nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and/or private educational institution within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Energy-saving measures include projects such as efficient upgrades in lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, building energy management and controls, laboratory efficiency, and more.
Energy-saving measures include projects such as efficient upgrades in lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, building energy management and controls, laboratory efficiency, and more. Payment plans are typically designed for a 7-year timespan, during which time institutions begin saving on energy bills right away.
Read more about GreenerMass here.
Benefactor Investment Model
Developed by the California-based mission-driven clean energy firm EcoMotion and offered in partnership with GreenerU, the Benefactor Investment Model is a financing mechanism that provides educational institutions the funding needed for investments in energy-efficiency measures and renewable energy with no upfront costs.
A BIM is, at its core, a “very friendly” power-purchase agreement (PPA). Under this model, tax-paying investors—such as alumni and other institutional benefactors—have an opportunity to provide funding for projects that contribute to institutions’ efforts toward climate action plan implementation and can receive a reasonable return on their investments. This is made possible due to taxpayers’ eligibility for available tax-based incentives for energy-related investments where nonprofits and public institutions are not. Any nonprofit organization with a donor base is eligible to participate. Payback periods are 6–10 years, depending on the project.
Read more about the Benefactor Investment Model here.
Contact us to talk about which financing opportunity best suits your institution’s needs today.