Ygrene PACE’s $250 Million Virtual Funding Facility
Originally published on the ECOreport.
Two months ago, Ygrene CEO Stacey Lawson announced her company’s plan to expand into six U.S. states. This was followed up by the news, a few days ago, of Ygrene PACE’s $250 million virtual funding facility for expansion.
The $250 Million Virtual Facility
“The $30 million we raised in March was operating capital for the growth of Ygrene as a program, and this $250 million revolving credit facility is to fund clean energy projects,” explained Lawson. [1. Roy L Hales interview with Stacey Lawson, CEO of Ygrene Energy Fund Inc.] “This is a warehouse facility with three large bank partners, which are funding all of the residential and commercial projects. As we do projects and fund contractors for the installation, we accumulate these projects on the warehouse. Once we’ve reached an adequate-sized pool — about $150 million to $200 million — we will securitize those assets into the capital market under an ABS (Asset- Backed Security) securitization.”
As funding is securitized, it opens up space for more projects on the facility.
“We will, potentially, be able to use this for billions of dollars of new projects,” said Lawson.
Ygrene also intends to expand its network of financial partners and increase the size of its “facility” to over $400 million.
Entering New US States
It is currently the only PACE program operating in two states, California and Florida, and is proceeding to enter others. Ygrene is going through bond validation in Georgia, and it has just won the RSPs in Missouri and Arkansas and is negotiating contracts.
“I would expect that we will probably be operational in those states by the end of the year, or early 2017 at the latest,” said Lawson.
It could also participate in Connecticut’s Open Market Program.
Virginia has yet to award an RSP.
The Demand For PACE
Ygrene has funded nearly $400M in climate-resilient infrastructure projects across the nation, producing $985M in economic stimulus, 5,910 new jobs, and reducing CO2 by 473K metric tons.
“The demand for this kind of financing is so high that we need to ensure we have a steady flow of capital to satisfy the commitments and applications we are approving for property owners,” said Lawson.
Photo Credits: Coconut Grove solar panels financed with Ygrene – Photo Courtesy Goldin Solar; Ygrene CEO Stacey Lawson
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