NICCE Financing —
New Inter-Creditor Clean Energy finance
An alternative to PACE for major energy efficiency & renewable upgrades & improvements
There’s no doubt that PACE[1] is a genuine breakthrough in financing clean energy improvements.
PACE has now become the fastest-growing sector of finance lending in the country. It’s easy to see why. The property owner benefits by saving energy, reducing costs, and getting cleaner energy; the capital provider is able to ensure a long-term, secure and steady return on capital at above-market rates; the contractor generate more revenue by installing deep retrofit systems that include storage and demand reduction; and the public benefits by getting lower carbon emissions, cleaner air, an improved building stock, and local jobs. A win for everyone.
[1] Property Assessed Clean Energy: PACE provides 100% off-balance-sheet financing by creating a voluntary special tax assessment that ensures repayment of the improvement costs by the property owner over an extended period.
But PACE isn’t available everywhere — and we can’t afford to wait.
New Jersey and other states that do not yet have PACE are at a disadvantage. There is pent-up demand for the kind of financing that makes it profitable to do clean energy retrofits. That’s why we spent the last year — while we were championing PACE in New Jersey — developing new approaches intended to mimic PACE. These models don’t have all the benefits of PACE, but should work for some segments of the market. As these pre-PACE programs take hold, we’ll be priming the pump for PACE and making sure that today’s buildings have the clean energy financing they need. We need to do all we can to accelerate the efficiency, resiliency, and sustainability of our built environment.
NICCE is available today
We have funding for socially-significant projects in major urban centers around the country.[2] The essence of the NICCE structure is that the improvement financing is provided to the owner as a special-priority mortgage. As in PACE, the existing senior mortgage lender on the property must consent; however, instead of needing to consent to an assessment, as in PACE, there is an inter-creditor agreement with “PACE-like” conditions: that the current (and any past due) payments take priority over the senior loan, but are otherwise subordinate, and cannot themselves be accelerated. At the improvement lender’s option, NICCE financing can be converted to a PACE assessment if and when PACE becomes available. Given that NICCE is a type of loan, it is not necessarily off-balance sheet. But for the right projects, it provides a substantial asset-value improvement, saves money and energy, and reduces emissions.
[2] Bay area, LA, Austin, Phoenix, New Orleans, Miami, Atlanta, DC, Baltimore, Hartford, CT, Minneapolis, Detroit, Denver, St Louis, Boston, Chicago, as well as anywhere in New Jersey.
Terms and conditions for NICCE loans are expected to be comparable to those currently available to PACE borrowers. We’re open for project submissions on a limited-trial basis, and open for discussions with other capital providers who may be willing to offer these types of loans.
To apply, please visit www.RegenerativeFinancing.org.
We are seeking projects
Possible Planet/NJPACE, a NJ 501c3 nonprofit, is seeking “shovel-ready” demonstration projects for this pilot program, which is being offered in association with a major national impact investment fund.
Save a Bundle on Energy with No Cash Outlay.
There’s simply no reason not to do it.
To apply, please visit www.RegenerativeFinancing.org.