About Energy Resilience Fund
Energy Resilience Fund loan fund specializes in inclusive financing for community-powered renewable energy solutions that advance economic and environmental justice. It serves communities throughout the U.S. providing patient, flexible capital to renewable energy, particularly solar, projects.
Mission
Energy Resilience Fund loan fund finances projects which create economically and environmentally healthy communities in which all people, especially low-to-moderate income (“LMI”) and Tribal communities, gain access to solar energy installations and clean energy jobs.
History and Purpose
GRID Alternatives - the nation's largest energy equity nonprofit and a recognized Top Solar Contractor - formed Energy Resilience Fund to expand access to more communities through more inclusive financing that provides greater energy savings and enables more mission-aligned projects to develop.
Renewable energy, such as solar, provides both climate-friendly energy and quality jobs that are accessible to low-to-moderate income (LMI) and Tribal communities. Energy Resilience Fund financing fills a critical gap in the market by providing both permanent and short-term, flexible capital to support solar development, that may not be otherwise be available. Energy Resilience Fund is equally focused on providing economic development support to LMI and Tribal communities in addition to the climate change mitigation benefits of clean energy development.
Communities of color and low-income communities have historically been dismissed by investors and lenders as high-risk; GRID and Energy Resilience Fund believe that overlooking these communities in our push toward a clean energy future is the greatest risk of all. Together, we can upend the financing disparities that block high-impact clean energy projects and shift ownership and wealth-building opportunities from investors to communities themselves.
Commitment to Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity
Energy Resilience Fund loan fund shares GRID's commitment to Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity, recognizing a successful transition to clean energy that benefits everyone will only be achieved within a framework of racial, economic, and environmental justice.
GRID is committed to advancing an equity agenda both within our organization and in the renewable energy industry and policy arenas by examining and addressing systemic inequities, seeking out and amplifying the voices of communities, and expanding access to industry leadership opportunities. GRID also works to build a culture of equity that supports diversity.
GRID Alternatives aims to reflect the communities we partner with at all levels of the organization and promote these values within the energy industry. Currently, 66% of all GRID staff, 55% of senior leadership, and 52% of Board members self-identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC).
Values
Integrity/Accountability
Ensuring the communities being served see measurable, substantive benefits from solar and clean energy financing products.
Innovation
Challenging the status quo and reimagining and reshaping the industry through a climate justice lens.
Community
Centering community ownership and wealth-building models. Listening to what matters on the ground and being responsive to community-defined needs.
Collaboration
Collaborating with developers, intermediaries, and community organizations to build more buying power and co-create better solutions.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Energy Resilience Fund loan fund is wholly owned and managed by GRID Alternatives, a California 501(c)(3) nonprofit with 20 years of experience providing low-to-moderate income (LMI) communities with access to solar energy installations and clean energy job training opportunities.
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Energy Resilience Fund loan fund is a mission-locked Public Benefit LLC, which promotes the public benefit of providing inclusive financing for community-powered renewable energy solutions that advance economic and environmental justice.
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For over 15 years, GRID Alternatives has provided low-cost technical assistance, in-house solar design, and installation services to affordable housing providers and nonprofit organizations. In 2016, GRID Alternatives, Vote Solar, and the Center for Social Inclusion launched The Low-Income Solar Policy Guide to help drive the proposal and adoption of new low-income solar policies and programs. That guide identified that the low-to-moderate income sector often does not have available capital for cash purchases, experiences credit barriers and owner/tenant split incentives, and has historically been dismissed by investors and lenders as high-risk, resulting in overall market disinterest. Faced with many high-impact multifamily, commercial, and community scale projects put on hold or delayed indefinitely each year as a result of a lack in funding or financing, GRID Alternatives could not accept the continued dismissal of these communities by existing market forces, impeding our push toward a just clean energy future. Energy Resilience Fund loan fund was created to help borrowers overcome traditional market barriers to secure affordable financing and shift ownership and wealth-building opportunities from investors to communities themselves.
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Many funds are limited by the pipeline of opportunity. Through GRID Alternatives, our fund has access to a steady stream of lending opportunities in California, Colorado, New Mexico, Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, and in Tribal communities around the country. Additionally, Energy Resilience Fund loan fund offers financing to other mission-aligned projects outside of GRID Alternatives’ physical footprint by working with other trusted clean energy project developers, affordable housing providers, and engaging with community development financial institutions (CDFIs). We are currently pursuing CDFI certification for Energy Resilience Fund loan fund and developing more subsidized technical assistance programs for CDFIs and community organizations to further scale our financing reach.
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Energy Resilience Fund invests in LMI-dedicated clean energy projects that deliver meaningful savings and wealth-building opportunities to ensure both higher benefit delivery and higher repayment rates.
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Energy Resilience Fund loan fund is a solar and clean energy loan fund that offers more inclusive and competitive financing for clean energy projects that incorporate job training and provide economic benefit to communities historically underserved by traditional financing institutions. We raise philanthropic investments (debt) and use those funds to provide loans to nonprofits, affordable housing providers, Tribal communities, and mission-aligned clean energy project developers. We pair our impact-oriented debt with outside capital such as rebates, incentives, grants, and market capital (both equity and debt) to leverage philanthropic dollars further and scale the impact of this clean energy and economic development work. We offer short-term loans to projects with identified and reliable take-out capital like rebates, tax equity investments, or permanent financing. Additionally, our long-term loans provide patient capital to projects with predictable long-term energy savings/revenue where net energy savings promote high repayment rates.
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Energy Resilience Fund loan fund remains focused on financing products that provide substantial, measurable, and meaningful benefits to the communities served. This includes filling the financing gaps in the evolving renewable energy market. With the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, Energy Resilience Fund recognizes that financing will likely play a key role for community partners to tap into newly available incentives such as the direct payment option for the federal investment tax credit (ITC). Within GRID’s pipeline alone, there are roughly 20MW of high-impact multifamily, commercial, and community solar projects in need of financing.
Energy Resilience Fund loan fund is raising impact investments to support the immediate pipeline of projects, but the need is likely to grow rapidly as more projects become economically feasible with the direct pay ITC and low-income project bonuses.
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Anyone can invest with Energy Resilience Fund loan fund as long as they can meet the $125,000 minimum investment and their goals align with our need for impactful, patient, and low-cost capital. Our investments to date have come from private foundations and donor-advised funds in the form of program-related investments and recoverable grants.