A program to help finance green energy for commercial buildings is nearing approval from the Board of Supervisors, pending an attorney general’s opinion expected next month.

The Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Program allows building owners to take out loans secured by a voluntary lien against their property to finance clean energy projects, such as installing solar panels on the roofs of buildings. The program is intended to provide more financing for clean energy projects, which typically take longer to pay for themselves than the typical commercial real estate loan that owners might use. While commercial real estate loans may be paid off over five to 10 years, Louduon’s PACE loans will have 30-year terms.

Those loans are made by private lenders, administered by a third party, and backed by a special lien against the property, which carries with the property if it is sold. Supervisors are waiting for an opinion from Attorney General Mark Herring on whether the county may legally delegate the billing, collection and enforcement of those loans to a third party before moving ahead.

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