The Green Energy Loan Fund (GELF)

Summary

The Pennsylvania Green Energy Loan Fund (GELF) is a revolving loan fund managed by the Reinvestment Fund with support from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.  It offers low-interest loan financing for energy efficiency retrofits and the installation of energy conservation measures and high-performance energy systems in all building types except single-family residential homes. These properties include commercial, nonprofit, local government, multifamily, and industrial buildings/facilities.

Loans typically range from $100,000 and $2,500,000 or more. The loan term will be consistent with the life of the improvements, up to 15 years. Interest rates differ on a case-by-case basis, but generally range from 3.5% to 4.5%.

There are four categories of eligible energy conservation and efficiency improvements: 

• Projects involving one or two energy retrofit measures or the replacement of single systems or equipment in an existing, occupied building.
• Projects involving multiple energy retrofit measures in an existing, occupied building.
• Projects involving the gut rehab of an existing building.
• Projects involving new construction of a building or an addition to a building.

A building project applying for a GELF energy loan must demonstrate that it will result in a reduction of energy consumption equal to the GELF savings goal, which differs based on project type. This reduction must be verified by an energy professional. 

• For limited energy retrofits, there must be 25% less energy consumption from new equipment compared to old equipment predicted. 
• For extensive energy retrofits, the energy conservation measures must be predicted to reduce total annual energy consumption of the building 25% from historical usage. 
• For a gut rehab,  predicted energy use 10% less than allowed under the applicable building code is required. 
• For new construction, predicted energy use 15% less than allowed under the applicable building code is required. 

A full list of eligible energy measures can be found in the GELF List of Energy Measures Spreadsheet. GELF is focused primarily on energy efficiency and conservation measures, but it may also provide financing for distributed generation such as solar and combined-heat-and-power systems when it is part of a larger energy conservation project.

Please review the program website and GELF Program Guidelines for further details.