Description

The California Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority (the California Power Authority or CPA) is offering below-market rate loans to manufacturing companies that will use the loan for the purchase and installation of renewable energy systems, energy-efficient equipment, or clean distributed generation systems on their own facilities, or manufacturers of renewable energy and/or clean distributed generation systems or components establishing or expanding the manufacturer’s California production facilities. Eligible renewable energy technologies include photovoltaics, solar thermal electric, fuel cells, small and large wind turbines, biogas, landfill gas, biomass, and geothermal electric technologies.

Funding for the program includes $30 million of tax-exempt industrial development bonds. Applications are due August 1, 2003. The minimum loan amount is $2 million and the maximum amount is $10 million per applicant, with a limit of $40 million by any one company. Interest rates vary from 2.7% for a five-year loan, to 3.81% for a 10-year loan, to 4.7% for a 20-year loan, to 4.87% for a 30-year loan. Application and issuance fees apply as well as various restrictions on how the money may be used.

To help maintain minimum standards of quality, and to be eligible for the loan, an eligible project should offer the following conditions:
– A minimum of a full five year warranty on the entire generating system if installed by a licensed contractor, or a limited five year warranty if installed by the owner;
– Installation by an appropriately licensed contractor, or the system owner, and in compliance with appropriate electrical codes; and
– Key system components, or the entire generating system, are certified to meet certain established standards, where available.