West Valley City has become the first municipality in Utah to set up the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy, or C-PACE, program.Its intent is to encourage construction and building upgrades around clean energy use. Teresa Pinkal is an energy program specialist with the Governor’s Office of Energy Development. She says the program allows companies to make their commitment to clean energy use a reality.
“It’s something that I feel like everybody can benefit from as well as our local community. Residents benefit from decreased carbon footprint so it’s a win for everyone,” says Pinkal.
The C-PACE program provides low interest 20-year loans to businesses who construct energy efficient buildings and facilities. Hunt Electric is using $100,000 from a private lender in the program to build a 72 panel solar canopy and an electric car charging station on the company’s West Valley property. The system is expected to generate an excess of power for the company from the first day it’s switched on.
Mark Nord, the director of economic development for the city told KUER in a statement the electrical contractor is the first to capture the vision of the program and really wanted to take advantage of the resource. He says he expects many more to come quickly based on the success of this first project.
