$30M investment could double solar energy in Cuyahoga County in five years, study says, but finding the money could be difficult

Solar panel

Solar panelGetty Images/Hemera

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Creating an investment fund of at least $13 million from public and philanthropic sources could help double the amount of solar power generated in Cuyahoga County in five years, according to a study financed in part by the county government.

Researchers with the Coalition for Green Capital, a Washington D.C. nonprofit that works with governments to help find financing for clean energy, recommend that the fund, or “green bank,” be used to make long-term or low-interest loans to small-scale solar developers.

The loans from the fund would in turn allow the developers to borrow up to $17 million from conventional lenders and enable them to install solar panels on small businesses and then sell the electricity that is generated to the businesses at fixed rates, the study states.

The study, an advance copy of which was given to cleveland.com, reports that smaller-scale solar developers struggle to finance such projects in the county because of tight profit margins and solar energy being more expensive than energy generated by coal and natural gas.

One catch, not addressed in the study, is that Cuyahoga County budgeted no money for such a project this year or in 2021. County Executive Armond Budish has since called for deep spending cuts to address anticipated losses in revenue due to the coronavirus crisis.

The two philanthropies that helped fund the study – the Cleveland Foundation and George Gund Foundation – also are not ready to say how much they would be willing to commit to the idea, one of several Budish proposed in a 2019 “climate change action plan.”

The Gund Foundation is “seriously considering” an investment, John Mitterholzer, senior program officer for the environment, told cleveland.com on Thursday. But he declined to disclose an amount. The Cleveland Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Budish nonetheless issued a statement expressing support for the “bold and exciting” idea. “It positions us well to come out of the current COVID crisis by tackling another crisis that may not be top of mind for some but that continues to loom.”

Finding money to establish the self-sustaining loan fund and finding an organization to administer the fund will be the first step, county Sustainability Director Mike Foley told cleveland.com.

Foley said he agrees with the Coalition for Green Capital’s conclusion that investing in solar arrays for small businesses should be a priority. Small businesses wouldn’t have to pay for panels, and could access energy at a fixed rate, he said.

By the green bank first focusing on such projects, Cuyahoga County could significantly and quickly increase its solar output.

Over five years, the projects would create more than 450 jobs, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by the equivalent of removing 140,000 passenger vehicles from area highways or planting 11 million seedlings, the analysis found.

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