Product
CLEER
Commercial Loan for Energy Efficiency and Renewables (CLEER)
Through Commercial Loan for Energy Efficiency and Renewables (CLEER), DC Green Bank accelerates availability of up-front financing to commercial tenants and owners of existing buildings in DC for upgrades that reduce energy and resource consumption and for distributed renewable energy solutions.
Portfolio Overview
DC Green Bank facilitates a participating lender’s development of its clean energy portfolio and pipeline by reducing high entry costs and addressing barriers such as limited risk tolerance to learn different cash flow models. This way, DC Green Bank contributes to a cultural change by building awareness and capacity within financial institutions about clean energy and distributed energy production.
CLEER CAN BE USED BY COMMERCIAL TENANTS AS WELL AS NONPROFIT AND FOR-PROFIT OWNERS OF INDUSTRIAL, COMMERCIAL AND MULTIFAMILY PROPERTIES IN THE DISTRICT
Who Can Benefit From CLEER?
DC Green Bank’s CLEER Program is available to multifamily, commercial, and industrial property owners as well as commercial building tenants in Washington, DC. CLEER works through a network of authorized contractors, previously approved and/or in good standing with DC Green Bank, Pepco, DOEE, DCSEU, or its partners. This network implementation serves two purposes. First, becoming an authorized contractor is open to any firm operating in the DC area, which offers local contractors the opportunity to actively participate in the clean economy’s growth. Second, it ensures that the final customers have green building choices. Authorized contractors can offer prospective customers an affordable option for clean energy, and that the commitment to these solutions will be transparent, sustainable, and supported by DC Green Bank.More Info for Contractors
More Info for Building Owners
Eligible Energy Improvements
The savings produced by more efficient energy solutions make DC Green Bank’s CLEER Program both risk-free and easy to repay. Any approved project’s energy savings should at least be 15% of the building’s current consumption over a 12-month baseline. CLEER provides up to 100% financing of the approved eligible energy improvements; however, related enhancements that are not energy improvements may account for up to 30% of the total project cost financed. DC Green Bank’s CLEER Program is available only for existing commercial, industrial, or multifamily buildings. CLEER does not finance new construction projects. It is mainly targeted at retrofits, renovations, and additions, as these are the projects that are more challenging to fund through traditional capital markets. CLEER and DC Property Assessed Clean Energy (DC PACE) are complementary programs that make sustainable projects accessible to thousands of residents and businesses that lack access to other financing options.Eligible partners providing capital through this program include Sandy Spring Bank and City First Enterprises.