The Philadelphia Green Capital Corp is the green bank affiliate of the Philadelphia Energy Authority that was developed alongside the Philadelphia Energy Campaign. Green banks are nonprofit entities which connect clean energy projects to capital through a variety of financial mechanisms.
PGCC has multiple products that are meant to create equitable access to clean energy, especially for moderate to low-income households. Their "Share the Sun" program uses donated solar renewable energy credits (SRECS) to support solar installations for low and moderate income communities in Philadelphia by managing and selling donated SRECS, and using that profit to expand solar access. According to PGCC's website, SRECs are currently valued at $41 in Pennsylvania, and a question that I had is if the price of the SRECs are manipulated by PGCC to produce a higher return, and if so, how? Also, if SRECs are somehow sold for more than $41 by PGCC, why wouldn't SREC purchasers buy SRECs from sellers directly? If the $41 that SRECs are currently valued at are the price they sell for through PGCC, I wonder how much can be done with the SRECs being sold.
PGCC also supports PEA’s Solar Savings Grant Program, which distributes grants to low and moderate income homes for solar installation and finances the remainder of the cost. PGCC is generating new capital for this program through fianncial mechnaisms such as loan loss reserves and a revolving fund for the solar renewable energy credits generated by the operating solar projects. I'm wondering if the latter financial mechanism is again using SRECs from households who got solar through Solarize Philly, but rather than asking households to donate SRECs, perhaps some SRECs are automatically owned by PGCC for this project.
I'm looking to reach out to an individual at PGCC to ask these questions and to learn more about the financial mechanisms that PGCC uses to connect vulnerable communities to clean energy.
Michael Butler, "Philly’s first ‘green bank’ will connect clean energy projects to capital", contributed by Morgan Sarao, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 25 October 2021, accessed 26 April 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/philly’s-first-‘green-bank’-will-connect-clean-energy-projects-capital
Critical Commentary
The Philadelphia Green Capital Corp is the green bank affiliate of the Philadelphia Energy Authority that was developed alongside the Philadelphia Energy Campaign. Green banks are nonprofit entities which connect clean energy projects to capital through a variety of financial mechanisms.
PGCC has multiple products that are meant to create equitable access to clean energy, especially for moderate to low-income households. Their "Share the Sun" program uses donated solar renewable energy credits (SRECS) to support solar installations for low and moderate income communities in Philadelphia by managing and selling donated SRECS, and using that profit to expand solar access. According to PGCC's website, SRECs are currently valued at $41 in Pennsylvania, and a question that I had is if the price of the SRECs are manipulated by PGCC to produce a higher return, and if so, how? Also, if SRECs are somehow sold for more than $41 by PGCC, why wouldn't SREC purchasers buy SRECs from sellers directly? If the $41 that SRECs are currently valued at are the price they sell for through PGCC, I wonder how much can be done with the SRECs being sold.
PGCC also supports PEA’s Solar Savings Grant Program, which distributes grants to low and moderate income homes for solar installation and finances the remainder of the cost. PGCC is generating new capital for this program through fianncial mechnaisms such as loan loss reserves and a revolving fund for the solar renewable energy credits generated by the operating solar projects. I'm wondering if the latter financial mechanism is again using SRECs from households who got solar through Solarize Philly, but rather than asking households to donate SRECs, perhaps some SRECs are automatically owned by PGCC for this project.
I'm looking to reach out to an individual at PGCC to ask these questions and to learn more about the financial mechanisms that PGCC uses to connect vulnerable communities to clean energy.