So. Kingstown Businesses Take Advantage of C-PACE to Maximize Energy Savings

Rhode Island businesses have some of the highest energy costs in the nation, which can inhibit their long-term growth. The Infrastructure Bank’s Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program provides 100% financing to businesses for energy efficiency and renewable energy building upgrades. These property improvements reduce energy costs and are often cash-flow positive, which enables owners to re-invest in their company. Three South Kingstown businesses have taken advantage of C-PACE financing recently.

Matunuck Beach Properties, a 50-acre beachfront community in Wakefield, is installing a ground-mount solar photovoltaic system through C-PACE. The project will combine C-PACE with the Renewable Energy Growth Program, which enables customers to sell the energy they generate under long-term tariffs at fixed prices. Upon project completion, the property value is expected to increase by $145,425 and save over $240,000. The property improvements will reduce the building’s greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of 40 Rhode Island homes.

Pier Cleaners, a local dry-cleaning business, installed roof-mounted solar panels with help from a $131,838 C-PACE loan. The company is now expected to save $279,000 in energy costs over the life of the loan. They also installed solar panels at their Westerly location, which is expected to reduce the energy costs for that location by 94%. Pier Cleaners is expected to save over $500,000.

South Kingstown’s Laurel Lane Country Club similarly benefited from a C-PACE loan when it installed ground-mounted solar panels to power the Club’s hospitality and golf operations and support upgrades to its fleet of golf carts from gas-powered to electric. The Club will save 5 million kilowatt-hours over the 25-year life of the loan – the amount of energy used annually to power almost 400 Rhode Island homes.

“The Rhode Island C-PACE program is designed to make investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy economically attractive for commercial property owners,” said Jeffrey Diehl, CEO of Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank. “I’m thrilled to see that building owners are using C-PACE together with the Renewable Energy Growth program. The combination of C-PACE benefits and REG incentives makes the financial opportunities for building owners to go solar extremely compelling.”

Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank is hosting a C-PACE building owner information session on November 7^th at Laurel Lane Country Club in West Kingston. Join us to hear from local business owners about how C-PACE helped them cut costs and increase energy efficiency. Click here to learn more about the event.