Resistance from federal housing officials nearly scuttled the residential market for property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing, as cities and counties across the country shuttered programs. But a few jurisdictions bucked the trend. One outlier is the HERO (Home Energy Retrofit Opportunity) program, which appears to be thriving in western Riverside County, California.
Such reporting is valuable, I hope, in keeping readers up to date on the nascent but fast-maturing PACE market. The HERO program, which launched in December 2011, can claim the distinction of being the rare PACE program that has successfully funded projects. Renovate America, which runs the HERO program for the Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG), announced earlier this month the approval of more than $50 million for residential energy retrofits, with half of that funding approved since July. Read full story.