Ygrene Energy Fund Florida, the leading provider of property assessed clean energy (PACE) programs for local governments in Florida, recently announced it has funded the first PACE projects in the state. This is a major milestone for Florida and signifies a new era of property improvement and job creation opportunities for cities and counties across the state. The Ygrene program provides residential and commercial property owners with access to low-cost, low-risk capital to implement building upgrades, including hurricane protection, energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Whereas traditional retrofits can burden property owners with high upfront costs and financial risks, Ygrene’s PACE-financed upgrades are nonrecourse financing repaid via annual property assessments over a 20-year term. In Miami, the Ygrene program has funded its first hurricane resiliency project on a commercial property owned by urban development company Barlington Group, which worked with New Holland PACE Consulting Inc. on the project. A second project is approved and underway. Both properties will receive hurricane resiliency upgrades — including impact-resistant and energy efficient storefronts, windows, and doors — expected to reduce the building owners’ hurricane insurance and energy costs while simultaneously improving the value of each property. These projects total more than $210,000, part of Ygrene’s growing pipeline of over $40 million in PACE-related projects in the region. Read full story.