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Legends Solar – Buy operating solar panels on commercial solar farms

legends.solar

41–50 of 167 posts

Re: Legends Solar – Buy operating solar panels on commercial solar farms

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These will be commercial and utility scale solar facilities. We may get into residential in the future!

Show your work. Justify your ROI estimate.

It will depend on so many factors. Our current accredited investors are getting about 10%+, but that's only because they have access to tax equity benefits.

We are still in an early stage of creating the financial product, and the realized returns will be a function of the risk profile we choose (i.e. will there be construction risk, insurance, who is the power purchaser, etc.)

Don't worry, you'll get a detailed financial profile/pro forma before you have to make a investment decision.

Re: Legends Solar – Buy operating solar panels on commercial solar farms

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the time being, we are working with either newly operational or existing solar farms. Once we have a community of investors, a lot of doors will open in terms of the kinds of financings we'll be able to accommodate. For the time being, we want to keep our investors our of construction risk and tell a super simple story through our design. More to come though.

It's a cool idea. I like it. A product I'd jump at is if you pay me back in electron volts end-to-end, wherever I am. Is that feasible? Say I live in an apartment block. I really want to go solar, but have no roof or land. I'll pay you to erect and manage 1kW of panels out on the farm for me and I get back, say 750W (you skim 25%). But I get it through my utility company (it just comes off my bill).

I'd say that we are like Community Solar (what you described) but more portable. We combine aspects of stock equity with aspects of community solar. A different model, but one that can exist in symbiosis with Community.

Re: Legends Solar – Buy operating solar panels on commercial solar farms

#43

Interesting product, I'm curious how the ongoing fees (operations and maintenace, etc.) are managed. Does the provider of the installation take a cut? Does Legends do the O&M?

We are still structuring our first retail investment (though we've done a few with accredited investors). We pledge to be upfront about our fee/cost structure which is likely to be an upfront financing fee and a portion of payments.

Re: Legends Solar – Buy operating solar panels on commercial solar farms

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

gonna pile on here so it's easy for OP to answer. 4. What contracts are in place to maintain the panel, and lease the space? What happens if the building decides to discontinue service. Will the solar panel be delivered to me (at what fee?) will the solar panel be re-placed on top of another building? (at what fee?) 5. are the devices insured against common forms of damage? (wind, hail, acts of humankind) 6. Can we i…

These are all great questions - so far we've worked with accredited investors to place $100K+ solar facilities while we've built our product. They are basically beta testers while de get out design, software, payments integrations, etc going. We answered those questions for accredited, for everyday retail investors it will depend on the solar facility we select and the financial structuring design.

Great questions, lacking in answers... would you care to share what you expect the answers to be? It is hard to get on board with the number of unanswered questions.

Re: Legends Solar – Buy operating solar panels on commercial solar farms

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

gonna pile on here so it's easy for OP to answer. 4. What contracts are in place to maintain the panel, and lease the space? What happens if the building decides to discontinue service. Will the solar panel be delivered to me (at what fee?) will the solar panel be re-placed on top of another building? (at what fee?) 5. are the devices insured against common forms of damage? (wind, hail, acts of humankind) 6. Can we i…

These are all great questions - so far we've worked with accredited investors to place $100K+ solar facilities while we've built our product. They are basically beta testers while de get out design, software, payments integrations, etc going. We answered those questions for accredited, for everyday retail investors it will depend on the solar facility we select and the financial structuring design.

Tell me you don't want to answer the questions without telling me you don't want to answer the questions...

Re: Legends Solar – Buy operating solar panels on commercial solar farms

#48

This is basically a variation on the SolarCity business model, but focusing on commercial properties. There is probably a business here, but not one that tries to recruit individual investors because it will only be profitable at scale, and the kind of financial backing needed to do this is available to qualified teams. The recruiting individuals thing is basically an admission that this team does not have access to…

We've lined up a number of finance partners to help facilitate transactions. Our first priority on our seed raise will be to bring some qualified finance experts in house.

We've been working with accredited investors who are making 100K+ investments for entire solar facilities. We think of those transactions as our training wheels as we build out our software, financial knowledge, and design.

As we evolve to a larger scale we will certainly bring on specialists to support the product.

Re: Legends Solar – Buy operating solar panels on commercial solar farms

#49
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

7. Can I re-sell my "panels" (shares in the facility) at a later date if I want out?

We hope to eventually operate a secondary market where you could do this. Depends on a few regulatory factors we are still considering. Definitely a priority.

I'm curious the legal structure of what you're selling here. The terms and conditions on your website[0] seem generic, and don't describe the offering.

You're promoting something you call "shares"[1], which promise to pay a dividend. Regardless of whether or not they can be resold, I assume your counsel has figured out a way that these aren't considered "marketable securities" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, which would trigger all sorts of SEC scrutiny.

I assume you're familiar with the early business model of Prosper Marketplace and their struggles[2] with the SEC over a similar issue.

Does this fall under the Regulation Crowdfunding exception[3] or is there another loophole?

(This is not meant as criticism; I'm genuinely curious. I'm not an expert, and the legal landscape has quite possibly changed since I last researched this issue.)

[0] https://www.legends.solar/legal/terms-and-conditions [1] https://www.legends.solar/learn/actual-ownership [2] https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2008/33-8984.pdf (PDF) [3] https://www.sec.gov/education/smallbusiness/exemptofferings/...

Re: Legends Solar – Buy operating solar panels on commercial solar farms

#50
post #18

I thought this was going to be about solar panels installed synergistically on food farms, running more efficiently because of the lower temperature, and increasing farm yield by reducing heat and water stress on the plants. (Most plants can turn only a fixed maximum of photons into sugar, daily, easily exceeded in an hour or three of full sun, with exposure after just endured.) There is a clever form of this where t…

Why would you think that natural photosynthesis is worst then artificial one?

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