On November 29, 2017, the Virginia Energy Efficiency Council held our latest Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, Lunch + Learn for Fairfax County and surrounding areas. With an audience of approximately 70 contractors, developers, property owners, lenders, and government officials, this was our largest PACE Lunch + Learn event to-date. The Great Falls Group of the Virginia Sierra Club co-hosted the event, and sponsors included Petros PACE Finance (event sponsor) and John Marshall Bank- Tysons Corner Region (lunch and networking sponsor).

The following speakers provided attendees with an overview of Commercial PACE, including its status across the Commonwealth, case studies, and its value proposition for the area, as well as the development and status of Arlington County’s PACE program:

• Abigail Johnson, President, Abacus Property Solutions and Atlantic PACE
• Cliff Kellogg, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Petros PACE Finance
• Richard Dooley, Community Energy Coordinator, Arlington County

The timing of this event allowed speakers to update guests on the recent PACE advances in the Commonwealth:

• Arlington County moves forward with their PACE program. 

On November 18th, the Arlington County Board approved the County’s PACE ordinance, thus making Arlington the first locality in Virginia to offer a PACE program. Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, or SRS, will serve as the County’s program administrator in charge of outreach and education, project underwriting, and quality assurance. The program is expected to launch this month, and the County is holding a PACE training for contractors on December 12th.

• Loudoun County is one step closer to developing a PACE program.

In October, Loudoun County’s Finance Committee forwarded a resolution to adopt a PACE program to the full Board for discussion. The Board will be reviewing this resolution at their January 18th meeting.

• Virginia Model Ordinance and Regional Guidelines will become available in January 2018.

The VAEEC is working with our partners to create a PACE model ordinance, which will help jurisdictions looking to develop their own PACE program. The ordinance will define the roles of all key parties (program administrator, jurisdiction, property owner, and lender), list qualifying improvements, specify how PACE works, and provide a cooperative procurement rider.

As a part of the Mid-Atlantic PACE Alliance, or MAPA, the VAEEC is working with partners across Virginia, Maryland, and DC to develop regional PACE program guidelines. These guidelines will include: project eligibility standards; the process for a typical PACE project; a suite of template documents; and application requirements. The guidelines will help provide consistency of design, administration, and documents within the Mid-Atlantic region while encouraging standardization and transparency.

The Fairfax County Lunch + Learn Presentation and C-PACE Resources document are available to view and download. Visit the VAEEC’s PACE webpage or contact Jessica Greene (jessica@vaeec.org) to learn more about PACE and its status in Virginia.