Sustainability financing company CleanFund and solar distributor Soligent are teaming up to help commercial real estate owners secure financing for solar installation. The terms of the deal allow Soligent’s dealers and installers to access CleanFund’s PACE financing.

CleanFund VP of solar Brandon Deno says the two firms had known each other for some time and saw a formal partnership as a natural evolution. “With the economics of commercial solar looking better than ever before and PACE geographic coverage expanding to cover many key markets, the time was right to kick off a formal partnership,” he tells Bisnow.

The partnership will showcase the new SolarPACE program, designed to make investment in solar easier for property owners. “This is major expansion of the network that will allow more commercial real estate owners to find solar installers and solar financing solutions that make sense and add value to their business,” Brandon says.

PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing helps owners afford sustainability and other retrofits. The full cost of the upgrade is paid back to providers such as CleanFund over 30 years through an additional assessment payment (or property tax).