On Tuesday, Renew Financial of Oakland, California announced that that it bought a smaller partner in Florida in order to fund energy upgrades.
Renew Financial is a “leader” in energy upgrades according to The Sun Sentinel, and it purchased Florida’s EcoCity Partners, which runs one of the state’s loan programs for Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE.
“We think we can replicate the great success we’re having in California very quickly in Florida,” Renew Financial CEO Cisco DeVries said by phone, to The Sun.
PACE is a unique program that gives loans that completely cover expenses associated with energy-saving improvements in both residential and commercial buildings. This includes solar panels, hurricane windows, and new air conditioning. Sometimes, the loans even pay for themselves when the improvements cover so much of an electricity bill.
PACE has funded about $1 billion in projects to date all over the country, and this includes more than $500 million in California last year. The Sunshine State has been slower to advance the program partly because of some concerns from the Florida Bankers Association.
Renew Financial’s deal also teams up with Demeter Power Group of West Palm Beach, a separate venture led by Michael Wallander, an EcoCity principal who will be leaving EcoCity. This venue recently unveiled “PACE-lease” aimed at small and mid-sized businesses.
Devries said that Renew Financial already has a partnership with California’s publicly traded SolarCity, a panel installer that targets PACE funding for small- and mid-sized businesses.
“The company is in a very aggressive growth phase,” DeVries said of his business, which employs about 150 people. EcoCity offered a “seamless” acquisition because of its common model and existing partnership. “Florida, we think, is a really exciting market.
With a new solar energy program coming to Florida, our homes will continue to be energy friendly, green, and not only better for our world, but also cost efficient. Check out out our amazing properties in Florida’s most happening city, Miami, where over $23 million in PACE programs have been started since mid-2013!