Green Banks: Transforming Clean Energy Finance in Virginia

The Union of Concerned Scientists analyzes how a hypothetical Virginia green bank with $90 million in initial capitalization could leverage $2.8 billion in total investment by 2030, significantly reducing carbon emissions and supporting the deployment of 575 MW of wind and solar capacity.

• A Virginia green bank with an initial public capitalization of $90 million could leverage a total of $2.8 billion in investments for renewable energy and energy efficiency over 15 years, with $2.5 billion coming from private-sector funding.
• By 2030, the proposed green bank could facilitate the deployment of 575 MW of new wind and solar power capacity.
• The investments from a state green bank are estimated to reduce power-sector carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2.8 million tons annually by 2030, which represents 22 percent of the total emissions reduction Virginia needs to meet Clean Power Plan requirements.
• Energy efficiency investments enabled by the bank could save homes and businesses approximately $220 million on annual electricity bills by 2030, based on 2014 prices.
• The bank could generate or save 3,700 GWh of electricity over 15 years, which is equivalent to 3.4 percent of the state's 2013 electricity sales.
• Virginia already possesses several clean energy financing mechanisms that a green bank could supplement, including the Solar Energy Development Authority, Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing, and the Solarize group-purchase program.
• Potential financial products for a Virginia green bank include direct lending, credit enhancements, warehousing and securitization services, and structured products like PACE financing.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2015). Green Banks: Transforming Clean Energy Finance in Virginia. https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/11/virginia-green-banks-fact-sheet.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Green Banks: Transforming Clean Energy Finance in Virginia. 2015. https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/11/virginia-green-banks-fact-sheet.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Green Banks: Transforming Clean Energy Finance in Virginia |date=November 2015 |url=https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/11/virginia-green-banks-fact-sheet.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2015green, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Green Banks: Transforming Clean Energy Finance in Virginia}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/11/virginia-green-banks-fact-sheet.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }