Lynn Sets the PACE for Property Owners

October 27, 2022 : The Daily Item, by Anthony Cammalleri

LYNN — In a push toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and facilitating business development, the city approved MassDevelopment’s Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program this week.

Under the PACE program, property owners seeking to install energy efficient infrastructure in their buildings, such as new boilers, HVAC systems, or solar panels, can be eligible for long-term loans facilitated through Mass Development.

One of the program’s main assets, Principal Planner Aaron Clausen said, is the fact that the debt associated with each loan would stay with the property itself, rather than the business that operates it. He said that during the duration of a 20-year loan, businesses will be able to save money with reduced energy costs, the benefits of which often take a long time to reap.

“The whole idea is that the loan is to be paid off by the energy efficiency savings, the cost savings, that the property owner is generating because of the equipment upgrades,” Clausen said. “Most energy efficiency improvements take a little bit longer to pay back.”

At a city council meeting, Clausen pitched the program as a way to drive economic development and incentivize environmental energy in the city by allowing business owners to cut energy costs without having to carry debt.

“It’s an economic development tool. It helps you invest in properties, and these long term investments help our businesses succeed and over the long term ensures that they want to stay where they’re at and make sure that it is up to their needs,” Clausen said. “We see this as much if not more of an economic development opportunity for the city or tool that we can bring to drive economic development, as well as advancing energy efficiency and sustainability.”

Clausen referred to Economic Development and Industrial Corporation (EDIC) Executive Director Jim Cowdell as a strong proponent of the program. Cowdell, in a written statement, said that he thought the program would take the cost burdens of renewable energy off of property owners.

“This is a great program that will allow property owners to finance upgrades to the boiler system, solar panels being added to the property, the ventilation systems et cetera. A lot of times, property owners are challenged as to how to pay for these upgrades,” Cowdell said. “This is a program that is offered through MassDevelopment which has proven to be successful in other communities.”

The voluntary ordinance is eligible to commercial and industrial properties along with multi-family homes with five units or more. In the two years since its inception in 2020, 54 municipalities across Massachusetts have joined. Clausen said that the Lynn-based smart textile company Soliyarn has already expressed interest in the program, which he said, was primarily intended to incentivize green energy.

“The whole idea, from a theoretical perspective, was conceived to help fund and finance energy efficiency enhancements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Clausen said. “ If we’re going to move towards a non-carbon future, we need to make those big, heavy investments. The PACE program is the tool to do that, so sustainability in mitigating climate change is a big piece of this […] there’s also a really exciting economic development component to that, too. It’s another way to incent investment in private property.”