Every funder and funding product is interested in different kinds of projects.  And every borrower has different financial preferences and priorities .
Examples: A certain borrower does not like to carry debt on the balance sheet.  They might want debt as short as possible for each improvement, so long as each cash flows positively!  OR…funder guidelines will only allow this borrower a certain amount; what if it’s not enough?

So let’s say you need to finance several different improvements, like solar and EV Chargers (different tax implications) or solar and energy storage (different life expectancies), or energy storage and HVAC (different underwriting urgencies)?

In CleanFi, you can either put all of those scopes under one single project, like “General Building Efficiency Improvements” … or split it up into two or more broader categories.

Don’t split the project if:

  • You don’t care if you only get one single funding option for your entire scope, so long it covers everything. Note that you’ll miss out on various options, and the solution may not be optimal for the credit profile.
  • All the improvements are of similar categories (i.e., power usage reduction measures like Lighting and Energy Use Controls)
  • All of the improvements in the scope have similar life terms and no tax benefit implications, beyond depreciation (i.e., Roofing and Doors/Windows)
  • All of the improvements in the scope are permanently attached and have no tax benefit implications (i.e., grey water systems and HVAC)

 

Split the project into two or more scopes if:

  • only part of your project has tax credits and:
  • Different useful life terms (i.e. roof: 20 yrs, storage: 10 yrs)
  • A PPA or Op Lease is desired for the solar, but a straight 5-yr loan for the storage
  • A non-profit applicant needs to float the Direct Pay amount with a short-term loan
  • One improvement is going to be a “sale/lease back” to you (i.e., EV Charger), the other a PPA

If you split your project, CleanFi automatically returns a different (maybe overlapping) list of funding solutions for each side of the scope.  We call that a “capital stacking” (see this knowledge base article on why it’s an important strategy).

Here is a short video on your user experience, and how the system takes care of that for you:

 

If you split, each scope will be placed in your “My Projects” folder as a separate project.  You can edit either one anytime to consolidate them by adding the missing parts of the projects into one or the other.

 

Stuck?
Our small but dedicated CleanFi team is here for you.  Contact us individually, or via support@cleanfi.com, or on (877) 301-7800.