TEC designs and implements community-based programmes to break down barriers and build a resilient clean energy future. As part of the project, Swell Energy and GRID Alternatives are installing solar and battery storage systems, bringing both energy savings and resilience to low-income homeowners.
Financial technology company Perl Street supports the development of distributed assets and is the financing partner for the programme, which provides immediate access to state incentive programmes, closing the financing gap to accelerate deployment. Urban Us Capital will provide the funds for the facility.
The financing marks the launch of BAAEC’s Advanced Homes programme, which offers free energy technologies and services to eligible homeowners.
“Securing this financing was a key milestone in ensuring residents in disadvantaged communities have affordable access to clean, renewable energy” said Genaro Bugarin, Director of Energy Innovation at TEC. “Through residential solar plus storage and electrification measures, we are improving residents’ comfort and safety, and ensuring everyone participates in the transition to our clean energy future.”
Homeowners within the unincorporated communities of Bassett and Avocado Heights and the surrounding areas who are interested in upgrading their homes can submit an interest form through the programme website.
The BAAEC project addresses structural, cultural, and socio-economic barriers to clean energy technology and the electrification of home equipment and transportation by providing free and low-cost renewable energy systems and smart energy appliances. These aspects of the clean energy transition are relevant in every community but are even more critical in disadvantaged communities (DACs), which suffer from a combination of economic, health, and environmental burdens and where relatively few resources are available for clean energy improvements.
Perl Street and Urban Us Capital see this as the first of a growing suite of available financing programmes for distributed energy resources in both California and the broader US markets to provide immediate access to energy savings, rebates, tax incentives, and opportunities to earn grid services revenue, reducing the effective cost barriers and accelerating the deployment of these technologies.
“This programme is an important step towards enabling resilience in the target households, and as the programme grows, we hope to see homeowners in Bassett, Avocado Heights, and the surrounding neighbourhoods benefitting from these technologies” added Arvind Vermani, Perl Street’s Chief Operating Officer. “We see this programme as an evolution of our other incentive financing programs for distributed energy resources, creating a cleaner, more resilient, and more equitable energy system for all.”
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