United Fund Advisors

Coastal Energy Project

A wind farm generates revenue for a nonprofit social services provider.

costal
THE PROJECT:

Coastal Community Action Program (CCAP) is a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of individuals, families, the elderly, children, and people with disabilities in southwest Washington, through its many social services. For nearly ten years, CCAP worked to develop a renewable energy production model to help fund its efforts to subsidize energy costs for the area’s low-income residents.

The Coastal Energy project is a six megawatt wind farm, in which the four turbines produce an estimated 13.5 million kWh of clean energy annually that is sold to the local public utility district for approximately $500,000. The revenue directly supports CCAP’s many needed programs, including: rental and low-income energy assistance, an emergency food program, home repair and weatherization, in-home healthcare, medical transportation and HIV/AIDS services, and job training.

The project was financed with both New Markets Tax Credits and Renewable Energy Investment Tax Credits, and creates a model for using clean energy production to fund non-profit social service organizations that can be replicated elsewhere.

COMMUNITY IMPACTS:
  • Create 133 construction jobs.
  • Offset 291,340 metric tons of carbon dioxide over the life of the system.
  • Enhance the existing scope of CCAP’s services, to serve an additional 1,000 low-income families per year.
  • Facilitate economic stabilization of the project area.
  • Develop a long-term, clean energy project that provides significant reliable funding for integral community services and greater self-sufficiency to the area.
KEY COMMUNITY DEMOGRAPHICS:
  • Average Poverty Rate: 16.0%
  • Average Median Family Income: 74.0% of benchmark
  • Average Unemployment Rate: 1.5 times the national average
  • State-Designated Distressed Community
  • Non-Metropolitan Area
FINANCING:
  • Total Project Cost: $18.8 million
  • NCF Deployed Allocation: $7.0 million
  • NMTC Allocation: $15.2 million
PROJECT PARTNERS:
  • United Fund Advisors (National Community Fund I, LLC)
  • Coastal Community Action Program; Coastal Energy, Project, LLC
  • US Bancorp Community Development Corporation
  • Shorebank Enterprise Cascadia
  • Wells Fargo, Community Investment Holdings, LLC