A Winning Team: Staffing a Successful Finance Program

clock June 9, 2011 05:30 | commentComments (0)
Every good coach knows that finding the right players can mean the difference between success and failure. As it turns out, building a program to finance clean energy projects is no exception. A few key players can be instrumental in successfully designing and implementing the financing for any program of this sort. This blog post provides a list of key positions that can ensure success in running energy efficiency and renewable energy (EE/RE) programs. The roles and responsibilities listed b... [More]
Categories: Best Practices | Financing | Loan Loss Reserve Funds | Outreach/Marketing | Permalink
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Far-flung Grantees Join Others for the Northwest Regional Peer Exchange Meeting

clock April 18, 2011 15:46 | commentComments (0)
On March 7th and 8th 2011, grantees from across the Northwest and North-Central Regions gathered in Portland, OR to participate in one of seven DOE sponsored EECBG and SEP networking and peer-exchange events happening across the country. Over 90 people came to take advantage of this unique networking opportunity, some from as far away as Alaska, Hawaii and the North Mariana Islands!  In total,  70 grantee city, county and state governments from AK, CNMI, HI, ID, MT, NE, OR, WA and WY, ... [More]
Categories: Best Practices | Education & Training | Energy Planning & Policy | Energy Savings Performance Contracting | Financing | Loan Loss Reserve Funds | Residential Retrofits | Tools and Events | Permalink
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Sustainable Connections: Community Energy Challenge

clock February 10, 2011 05:47 | commentComments (1)
Nestled on the shores of Puget Sound in northwest Washington, Whatcom County is home to the Mt. Baker Ski Area and slightly more than 200,000 people. In 2002, building on a rich history of community and business innovation, a group of local business owners partnered to form Sustainable Connections, a network of leaders working to facilitate sustainable economic development in the region. One of the organization’s latest initiatives is the Community Energy Challenge, which aims to help re... [More]
Categories: Financing | Loan Loss Reserve Funds | Success Stories | Permalink
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Risk Sharing: The Key to Leverage in Loan Loss Reserves – Part II

clock November 16, 2010 07:52 | commentComments (0)
In a follow-up to last week’s discussion of risk-sharing within a Loan Loss Reserve Fund (LRF), this post explains how liability is shared if a loan defaults. In our previous post, we discussed the possible range of LRFs to loan ratios in an energy efficiency loan portfolio. The second parameter in the LRF risk-sharing formula is the share of the losses on individual loans that the LRF will pay. A financial institution (FI) partner and the grantee negotiate what this share will be. For... [More]
Categories: Financing | Loan Loss Reserve Funds | Permalink
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Risk Sharing: The Key to Leverage in Loan Loss Reserves – Part I

clock November 11, 2010 09:13 | commentComments (0)
A major incentive of a Loan Loss Reserve Fund (LRF) is the leverage it provides for financing projects that enhance energy efficiency. By leveraging grantee dollars, an LRF effectively expands available credit through “risk sharing” to achieve strong results. This blog post tackles the basic question: What is risk sharing, and how does it work? An LRF risk-sharing formula typically has two defining parameters: The ratio of the LRF to the total original principal amount of the ... [More]
Categories: Financing | Loan Loss Reserve Funds | Permalink
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