Evaluating Halifax’s Solar City Program for Program Expansion with Accessible and at Scale Financing Options

The Halifax Regional Municipality will conduct a study to evaluate its Solar City program, Canada’s longest running Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program. The Solar City program has financed more than $18 million in solar energy systems since its inception in 2012 and is one of the first PACE programs in Canada to generate demand that outweighs what the current program model can finance. The municipality wants to launch a new, expanded program in 2021, supported by its new climate action plan, HalifACT. The plan identifies the need to retrofit all existing buildings to reduce energy demand by a minimum of 50% by 2040, and to install 1,300 megawatts of rooftop solar panels by 2030. To meet these ambitious goals, the new program will expand to include deep-energy retrofits, resiliency measures and non-residential properties. The program will increase accessibility and affordability and select a new third-party program delivery model that will allow the program to scale beyond its current size. Beyond the direct environmental benefits, the new program is anticipated to improve property owners’ energy savings, enhance landlord–tenant equity, and stimulate local solar and energy-efficiency industries. The program will borrow from the core tenet of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ‘leave no one behind’. This evaluation study has two main goals: 1. Understand the barriers and limitations of the current (Solar City) program: This includes assessing past and current objectives, evaluating program equity and inclusivity with a focus on property owners facing the highest energy cost burdens, and assessing cost-competitiveness and scalability for impact commensurate with the challenge and urgency of HalifACT. 2. Analyze the minimum design criteria for the new third-party financing program to be capable of delivering universally accessible and equitable financing: The municipality will explore utility on-bill financing as well as other third-party loan products to meet the minimum design criteria and determine what additional requirements may be needed to secure this. The Solar City pilot program was supported by GMF capital project financing (GMF 12028). Innovative aspect(s): · The study will establish a continuous evaluation framework focused on measuring impact from the outset of the program in real time, allowing program administrators to make changes if stated objectives are not being met. · The evaluation study will use an equity lens through all stages by consulting with low- to moderate-income property owners and equity-seeking groups, ensuring that the new program is designed to be inclusive, and to achieve the outcome of an accessible financing program which will advance the universal goal of clean and affordable energy for all property owners in the Municipality. Replicability: · The study will be completed in partnership with the Canadian Urban Sustainability Practitioners (CUSP) network, which has a large base of member municipalities who have already expressed interest in the results of the study and whose current program design and consultations can assist the Municipality in the design of their enhanced and accessible financing program. · This study will garner critical insights into how to scale up a retrofit financing program through collaboration with conventional financial institutions, which should be of interest to other municipalities with existing or developing PACE programs (Project description from original funding application)