Ygrene expands to Marin, Solano, nineother counties

Santa Rosa-based Ygrene Energy Fund Inc. has expanded its clean-energy and water-conservation financing program to the Marin, Solano and 12 other California counties plus dozens of cities in the state.

Its YgreneWorks program (ygreneworks.com) went live on Aug. 26 in 90-plus additional California cities and counties. Now, more than 9 million home and business owners, including small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs), industrial and agribusinesses in California, have access to immediate property-assessed clean energy, or PACE, financing for energy, water and seismic upgrades.

This comes on after the National Clean Energy Summit, where President Obama announced new actions to address climate change and promote clean energy and energy-efficiency to households nationwide.

In addition to Marin and Solano, the new territories are San Diego and nine additional counties plus cities such as Buena Park, Concord, Escondido, Hayward, Lancaster, San Diego, San Jose and Santa Ana.

“It’s time to get moving,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo in a statement. “Welcoming YgreneWorks to the city’s lineup of PACE providers will give our residents additional choice in how they finance water conservation and energy efficient home improvements, and as the leading provider of multifamily and commercial PACE, Ygrene is uniquely positioned to help San Jose meet its Green Vision goals of building or retrofitting 50 million square feet of residential and commercial properties and creating 25,000 clean tech jobs.”

With YgreneWorks, property owners receive 100 percent financing for building upgrades with no upfront costs and repayment terms of up to 30 years, allowing them to make timely upgrades without significant financial burden. Financing is paid via property-tax payments and secured by property liens.

“Access to Ygrene funding and choices in PACE programs is important to my constituents and residents throughout the city of San Diego by helping gain access to critical tools to pay for energy efficiency retrofits to their homes and commercial buildings,” said San Diego Councilmember David Alvarez. “I have been an advocate for helping make our cities cleaner and less reliant on traditional energy sources that produce greenhouse gas effects, and Ygrene and other PACE providers will help residents make wiser choices in energy consumptions and efficiency.”

“As California’s drought worsens and seismic concerns persist, we’ve seen a significant uptick in demand for retrofits,” said Stacey Lawson, Ygrene CEO. “The activation of our YgreneWorks program in these additional communities allows us to serve a greater number of people looking to protect their homes and businesses against the effects of climate change.”