Brown and Portage Counties Join PACE Wisconsin Program

Commercial property owners gain access to affordable financing for energy efficiency improvements
July 17, 2017

Brown and Portage are the most recent counties in the state to join PACE Wisconsin, a program which enables commercial property owners to obtain low-cost, long-term financing for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation improvements.

PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) drives economic development by authorizing municipalities and counties to work with private sector lenders to provide upfront financing—usually for 100 percent of the cost of energy-saving improvements—to property owners for qualified projects.

PACE Wisconsin helps communities:

Stimulate job creation and investment in goods and services.
Lower the cost of doing business by reducing the cost of capital to fund improvements, which in turn saves building owners money on operating expenses.
Revitalize aging buildings, thus improving the local building stock—and raising the value of property and the potential tax base.
Achieve sustainability goals by fostering the completion of energy and water saving projects.

A total of 22 Wisconsin counties have adopted PACE Wisconsin, including: Brown, Portage, Dane, Door, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Douglas, Dunn, Chippewa, Iowa, Jefferson, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, Racine, Washington, Ashland, Bayfield, Manitowoc, Marathon, Ozaukee, St. Croix, and Wood.
The program is now available to 41 percent of the state’s population. It is administered by Madison nonprofit Energy Finance Solutions (EFS), a financial service division of WECC.

About PACE Wisconsin
PACE Wisconsin offers an open-market solution for building owners in participating Wisconsin communities. To offer PACE Wisconsin, counties must pass a resolution authorizing execution of the Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement (JPA), and pass the Model PACE Ordinance through the county board of supervisors. Interested communities should contact the administrator at info@pacewi.org.

About Energy Finance Solutions (EFS)
WECC’s EFS specializes in financing program consultation, design, and delivery services in support of energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements. Through partnerships with utilities, contractors, and other agencies, EFS offers customers simple, affordable ways to finance energy improvements. EFS is the financing services division of WECC.