DevelopOhio

Ohio’s largest county isn’t waiting until the uncertainty over state policy for clean energy is resolved; Cuyahoga County announced it has formed a clean energy financing hub, midwestenergynews.com reports. The hub, which will “help businesses and nonprofits find private funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects,” will offer different platforms to meet the needs of different types of entities. One platform will provide a capital partner for PACE financing, a program that allows property owners to pay for qualifying projects through property-tax assessments (for more, see our October 08, 2015 blog post). Another platform will “help match nonprofit entities who want to install solar energy with for-profit investors,” which will lower the net costs of those projects. The goal for both public and private owners “will be to realize net savings as they make capital improvements.” Mike Foley, director of sustainability for the county, said it would have been easier to put the financing hub together if the state had meaningful renewable portfolio and energy efficiency standards, and that reinstating those standards would “add more resources to get what we want to do accomplished.” For more, read the full article.