GEMS Update: The Green Energy Market Securitization program, which was the subject of several articles in the March issue of Environment Hawai`i, has signed up with Pacific Rim Bank as the provider of GEMS-backed loans. At its February 26 meeting, the Hawai`i Green Infrastructure Authority (HGIA) approved several agreements needed before the first of the green-energy loans can be made, including one with Pacific Rim Bank to process all the loan applications. Pacific Rim receives an origination fee of 1 percent of the loan amount, plus a servicing fee of half a percent of the outstanding principal balance, paid by the customer.
According to information provided to the HGIA by its staff, Pacific Rim was the only bank that expressed any interest in helping the HGIA “develop a loan product to suit the needs of the nonprofit sector.”
The HGIA also approved a “market access agreement” with Clean Power Finance, the purpose of which is “for CPF to make available tax-advantaged PPAs [power purchase agreements] for $65 million in GEMS Nonprofit/Commercial loans, which results in $100 million of clean energy systems funded.” CPF also will “facilitate prepaid PPA financing by providing the origination platform and selecting participating tax equity funds.”
The HGIA approved two additional agreements – one with Concord Servicing, as the “servicing agent for GEMS purchased loans,” and another with House of Finance, “to originate, process, underwrite to [sic] GEMS guidelines, close, and fund GEMS consumer loans.”
House of Finance is to receive a “flat origination fee of $300 per loan” to consumers. Concord Servicing will be receiving “monthly payments … based on the size of the servicing portfolio. Fees are approximately $3.67 per loan for on-bill repayment loans and $5.09 per loan for non-on-bill repayment loans,” with allowance for “reasonable adjustments … in line with servicing requirements or reasonable inflation adjustments.”
On March 24, the HGIA announced it would begin accepting GEMS applications from nonprofits.
Attack on Albizia: In Hilo, one of the most prominent stands of albizia is dying. Vistas – of the mountains, of the sea – once blocked by towering albizias are opening up. What were once virtual forests of healthy albizia now look like hardwood forests in winter. The ground below still-standing trunks is littered with limbs shed by the dying and dead trees.
The area where the trees have apparently been poisoned consists of 171 acres, lying between Komohana and Mohouli streets, and encompassing the landmark Pu`u Honu. It has been proposed for development for the last 15 or so years, but the bankruptcy of a former owner set that project back. In 2011, the current owner, Wailani Development, submitted plans to the county Planning Department calling for a mixed-use development, with commercial areas, residential zones, and parks. Construction was to begin within five years of the passage of the approving ordinance – in other words, by June 18 of this year.
Since then, there has been little progress on the site – other than the apparent poisoning of the albizia trees. In February, Sidney Fuke, the planning consultant hired by Wailani, asked for more time to comply with the condition regarding timely construction. “A joint development agreement is in the works and should be consummated shortly,” Fuke wrote. “Once that is firmed up, plans can be finalized and construction can be underway.”
According to Planning Department staff, no response had been given to Fuke by press time.
As for the albizia, no one at either the Big Island Invasive Species Committee nor the U.S. Forest Service was involved with poisoning the trees.
Dead albizia trees along Komohana Street in Hilo