What We Do

We accelerate access to the benefits of the clean energy economy.

 
 

Financing for Developers

The Climate Access Fund is a non-profit green bank that offers two financial products to developers and potential project owners in Maryland who offer meaningfully discounted energy to low-to-moderate (LMI) households:

  • Financing: CAF offers financing with attractive terms to increase projects’ benefits to LMI households. CAF-financed projects must reserve at least 50% of energy generated for the benefit of LMI households and offer a minimum 20% discount on LMI electricity bills.

  • Solar Bill Guaranty: Through the generous support of the Maryland Energy Administration, CAF offers a Solar Bill Guaranty to backstop the community solar bills of participating LMI customers, reducing the impact of customer defaults on project revenue and enabling LMI households a longer runway to catch up on bill payment.

Project Origination: CAF Community Solar Projects

Climate Access Fund originates, develops, and finances commercial scale, community solar projects on rooftops, parking lots, and brownfields in Maryland. CAF’s demonstration project, Solar4Us@Henderson-Hopkins, is located on the rooftop of the Elmer A. Henderson: A Johns Hopkins Partnership School (Henderson-Hopkins), a public contract school in East Baltimore. This project will:

  • Allocate 100% of clean energy generated for the benefit of an estimated 150 low-to-moderate (LMI) income households;

  • Enable subscribed LMI households to receive a 20 - 25% discount on their BGE electricity costs;

  • Save subscribed households $1.1 M over the lifetime of the project;

  • Offer job training and exposure, local contracting, and local hiring opportunities; and

  • Provide resources for experiential learning opportunities about solar, clean energy, and climate change for Henderson-Hopkins students;

 
 

If you are interested in becoming a site host for a future project or if you have suggestions for potential site, please view our Site Host Information Packet . We are seeking commercial or industrial rooftops, parking lots, and brownfields across Maryland.

Advocacy for Community Solar

Since its inception in 2018, CAF has been at the forefront of community solar advocacy in the State of Maryland with the goal of expanding low-income households’ access to the economic and environmental benefits of clean energy. CAF has successfully advocated for statewide policies and regulations enabling the expansion of low-to-moderate (LMI) community solar. Key advocacy outcomes include the following:

  • Represented the interests of low-income households and communities in the MD Public Service Commission’s regulatory process to implement the community solar pilot program enabled by legislation that was passed in 2015; 

  • Initiated HB 76, passed in 2022, creating a personal property tax exemption for certain community solar projects serving low-income households;

  • Helped to develop and review HB 908, legislation passed in 2022 that made permanent the community solar pilot; and

  • Was a lead advocate for maximizing the number of low-to-moderate (LMI) income households served, successfully pushing for state green bank funding to serve at least 40% LMI households by law.

These advocacy wins were critical in not only expanding community solar and increasing low-income households’ access to its benefits, but also they have ensured that the state of Maryland is well-positioned to successfully apply for and deploy Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds specifically designated for LMI-serving community solar projects.