California Center for Sustainable Energy

We’re disappointed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s decision this month to recommend Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Banks take steps that effectively prevent the spread of property assessed clean energy ( PACE) programs. It means the City of San Diego’s Clean Generation Program is on hold, as well as similar programs throughout California and across the nation. We continue to believe that PACE programs will make the clean energy transition easier, and while this is a setback we certainly are not discouraged. There are lots of good indicators that sustainable energy is strong and growing in San Diego.

The timeline of  PACE financing programs is uncertain, but there are lots of possibilities.  Some of those possibilities are already under way.  On Tuesday, July 13, California Attorney General Jerry Brown filed suit against the FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on behalf of the State of California in an attempt to overturn their decision to impede PACE.  Just two days later, new legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that aims to move PACE forward via the legislative process. You can be assured that we are working with  PACE stakeholders close to this process to resolve the issues and that we will let you know more as developments take place. The race to a clean energy future is still very much on.

If you would like further information about the latest developments concerning  PACE programs or actions you can take in support of them, we suggest visiting the following websites:  PACE NOW at www.pacenow.org, Efficiency First at www.efficiencyfirst.org and Vote Solar Initiative at www.votesolar.org.