Dive Brief:
- Madison Equities' comprehensive energy retrofit of three buildings in downtown St. Paul, Minn., will save enough energy to power a small town, according to Minnesota Public Radio.
- The $12.5 million retrofit tackles the iconic First National Bank building, U.S. Bank and 375 Jackson properties.
- Xcel Energy kicked in about $1 million in rebates, but the bulk of the project financing came through Minnesota's Property Assessed Clean Energy loan program.
Dive Insight:
Access to creative financing has allowed for a retrofit project in downtown St. Paul that one Xcel official called "beyond ambitious." According to Finance & Commerce, annual energy savings from the projects will be about 13.5 million kWh.
Xcel Energy efficiency specialist Michael Hepfler told F&C, “this was beyond ambitious to do all three of these buildings back-to-back-to-back." The projects are expected to be complete next month.
PACE financing and efficiency rebates ultimately made the project feasible, according to Minnesota Public Radio. "The three projects are the largest combined PACE project in the nation," Peter Klein, vice president of financing for the St. Paul Port Authority, told MPR.
The real estate developer also utilized the Port Authority's Trillion BTU Energy Conservation Program, which loans businesses up to 100% of the project cost with no money down. In a fact sheet on the First National Bank building project, Xcel said that project would cost more than $6 million and 7.3 million kWh annually.
