[OmarIsmail]

I've been looking for something just like this! I find that people get really weird about solar stuff, so I'll explain why I've been looking for something like this.

1. I believe that man-made climate change is real and we should do something about it.

2. I want to limit/eliminate my own family's personal contribution to the warming of the planet for ethical and emotional reasons

3. I believe that solar is a "green" way to generate electricity, and at the limit if every house and building was covered in solar panels that would be a great world to live in

4. I want to help make that world a reality, and I'm not looking to maximize my ROI on the investment, it's not just about the money

5. I'd prefer much more solar energy production even if it's not the most efficient

6. I currently only have access to install solar panels on my own roof (which I'm already doing)

7. I think non-green energy production will only get more expensive, so solar energy is a decent diversified asset in a broader investment portfolio.

I've actually gone pretty deep in thinking about how I could do this, i.e. get a bunch of investors together and install solar panels on business roofs like schools, warehouses, etc.

I'm gonna request early access to this.

[swestwood]

You should also check out Midday Tech: middaytech.com

There isn't the investment/ROI angle – instead it focuses on putting up new solar by providing $1000-$5000 incentives to families considering rooftop solar. It focuses on lower income families and places that get most of their electricity from coal for maximum impact + additionality.

[PragmaticPulp]

All good motivations, but from an investment standpoint it seems everything about this would be better served by a publicly-traded company that owns and operates solar installations. They could pay dividends from the return on the installations.

The way this is structured isn't great for retail investors. You're not really owning anything the way you would with a traditional investment. You're basically just giving them money and trusting that they'll continue to be in business long enough to pay it back. If they go bust, the panels and installations go to creditors and you get nothing. Great deal for their creditors, bad deal for you.

[throwaway2037]

I like your idea. I wonder if we could create an ABS bond (asset backed securities) where a solar installation is securitised. Think: (David) Bowie bonds. Then we can sell the bonds to retail investors. The main problem is scalability: ABS bonds works for big investment banks because the notional is huge (100M USD+) and buyers are institutional. To me: The value to be added is two fold: (1) pipeline of reliable projects (just like sourcing assets / loans for MBS/ABS), (2) efficient buy/sell/coupon payments.

[ricardo81]

My thinking is much the same, though living in a higher and winder latitude I'm participating in a wind turbine co-operative (UK only though) [0]

It's not classed as an investment for tax reasons and limits you to 120% of your estimated residential consumption. It will essentially remove the wholesale cost of electricity from my bill for 25 years - so protects me from price spikes like the past 12 months.

My town has a river running through it and would love to invest in a similar hydro scheme. The LCOE for wind/solar/hydro would seemingly always beat fossil fuels, given how finite the latter is.

[0] rippleenergy.com

[fennecfoxen]

Beware.

Your speculation #7 notwithstanding, this kind of scheme is being targeted at retail investors [1] (instead of just accredited investors, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and the like) because it is more of a feel-good investment than something that makes financial sense. Firms with similar business models include Rally Road (equity shares in collectible cars). Similarities include the establish-an-emotional-connection tactic of identifying a specific panel or specific car.

This is a step up from Rally Road in my book — there's real earnings, it's not purely speculative — but from an investment perspective, you're only really involved because you're not as demanding as a serious investor (I expect rising interest rates have something to do with the shift away from accredited investors) and you are more vulnerable to this kind of feelgood pitch. Heck, you're competing with funding sources like a commercial loan, and for some reason you're winning?? That's a red flag.

You may see depressingly low returns. Read the prospectus end to end, understand the risks, and figure out how to do the math and properly discount a future income stream in a rising-interest-rate environment.

[1] (Elsewhere in this discussion: "We are currently working with accredited investors, but we are working to launch a product for retail investors.")

[yepnopemaybe]

Hard agree with all of that. Thank you for the support!