Burgess COMMENTARY
I attended this presentation
Peter Burgess

PRESS RELEASE June 20, 2013, 10:14 a.m. EDT Barrett Capital Presented Its Creative Financing Solution For Energy Efficiency Project At Co-op City to Manhattan Chamber Of Commerce

Barrett Capital's Energy Efficiency Financing Structure Provided $2MM of Capital For Green Energy Management Services, Inc. ('GEM') In Connection with the Installation of Energy Efficient Lighting Fixtures at All Co-op City Garages

NEW YORK, June 20, 2013 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Barry P. Korn, Managing Director of New York City-based Barrett Capital Corporation, presented a case study on how its creative financing programs help bring energy efficiency projects from the concept stage to reality to the Finance Subcommittee of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce Green Committee's monthly meeting on June 10.

The case study focused on Co-op City, located in the Bronx (the largest cooperative housing development in the world with over 15,000 units and a population of 55,000), and its plan to replace its existing light fixtures in its 8 parking garages with energy efficient lighting. The cost of the project was approximately $3 million. The new lights help Co-op City save a significant amount of money on its electric bill as well as to reduce energy usage.

Co-op City's requirement that the contractor undertake the project without any cash contribution from Co-op City and, the cost of the project be paid for through the energy savings, meant that creative financing was a necessity.

GEM, an energy management company, structured a shared savings contract in which the savings from the energy efficiency project itself, combined with a $1 million grant from NYSERDA, covered the cost. But that left GEM with its own creative financing challenge: It wanted to be paid up front from the proceeds of the shared savings, rather than receive payment over the 10 year term of the contract;

Barrett Capital stepped in with an elegant financing solution that:

• -- Fulfilled GEM's requirement for upfront financing by taking assignment of the Co-op Shared Savings Contract with a cash infusion of nearly $1MM.
• -- Confirmed, through the work of its own independent engineers that the promised energy savings would be realized, despite some complexities and uncertainties at the Co-op City garages
• -- Helped bring to completion an energy efficiency project that is expected to save 2,300,000 MWh over a ten-year period, which is the equivalent of saving the CO2 emissions of 338,000 cars over that same time period.