Trina Solar is excited to announce our new partnership with Counterpointe Sustainable Real Estate (CounterpointeSRE), which provides capital to sustainable and energy-efficient infrastructure in commercial and multifamily buildings. This firm has been heavily involved in financing carbon pollution cuts at a large scale, including serving the solar PV industry at a national level. Since 2013, CounterpointeSRE and its affiliates have financed commercial real estate construction and upgrades that have reduced annual electricity consumption by more than 51,000 MWh per year.

Together, Trina Solar and CounterpointeSRE can help deliver new opportunities for commercial and industrial (C&I) solar developers and engineering, procurement and construction firms (EPCs) who might be unaware of important financing options. 

What this partnership means for solar developers and EPCs

There is enough unused commercial roof space on U.S. buildings to install around 145 GW of potential new solar capacity, according to Wood Mackenzie. To put that into perspective, the U.S. installed 20 cumulative GWs of solar in 2020. However, to meet the ambitious clean energy goals set by the solar industry and the Biden administration, annual installations will need to grow to more than 80 GW by 2030. This means C&I roof space represents a crucial opportunity to help meet sustainable energy goals.

Yet even in the most mature solar market states (such as California), traditional financing models exclude millions of these buildings that have credit, transferability and split-incentive issues. Legacy funding approaches can’t serve these C&I customers.

Our partnership with CounterpointeSRE is out to change that.

Solar developers and EPCs, particularly those in the C&I solar sector, now gain greater access to a trusted financing source – particularly C&I solar projects in the 1-20MW range – which is underserved in the current market.

CounterpointeSRE also offers a wide portfolio of financing services for commercial building and property owners to enable:

• New construction, from ground up to mid-construction
• Energy efficiency retrofits and energy-saving capital improvements
• Renewable projects for solar, wind and geothermal
• Resiliency and public health, including solutions for seismic activity, floods, storms and energy storage

Spreading Awareness of C-PACE

While CounterpointeSRE offers power purchase agreements (PPAs) for non-private properties, the solar financing route the company excels at is Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE).

C-PACE programs provide commercial property owners with a way to fund solar installations through favorable interest rates and repayment schedules that are both baked into the property’s tax bill. This means that instead of payback of the 7-10 years so typical in traditional PPAs and solar loans, C-PACE gives property owners closer to 20-30 year repayment schedules. C-PACE is also particularly useful for private organizations that operate for the public good, such as schools and health care facilities, because they don’t need upfront capital to invest in renewables or equipment upgrades.

How Trina Solar’s C&I Solutions fits in

EPCs tasked with developing solar projects with high return on investment and environmental impact will benefit from financing as well as Trina’s ability to reduce project risk and add value through integrated solutions. Trina Solar’s C&I Solutions help ECPs streamline procurement and interconnection, while its innovative bundling of major solar system components boosts solar system efficiency and power gains.

“We are seeing a significant uptick in large scale solar adoption with C-PACE, particularly by corporates who are focused on meeting ESG goals,” stated CounterpointeSRE managing partner, Eric Alini, “By offering our financing solutions in concert with Trina Solar’s position in the marketplace we are going to help companies and commercial property owners move the needle significantly.”

Reach out to Trina Solar today to learn more about our exciting new partnership with CounterpointeSRE.

​​(Ed. note: The statements in this article should not be construed as professional tax advice, and consumers and business owners should consult with their tax professionals.)