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Legends Solar – Buy operating solar panels on commercial solar farms

legends.solar

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

#111

Post by yepnopemaybe »

Havoc wrote: post #105
foobiekr wrote: post #26

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…

>The recruiting individuals thing is basically an admission that this team does not have access to that kind of backing. I don't think that is a given - crowd funding can raise significant sums these days

I have the resources to simply hire a bunch of people to do stuff, but it turns out the best people aren't going to drop on a dime and build your product for you before you have validation, knowledge, a story, and cogent plan.

We are 5 months old (though I was working on this solo for more than a year before that), and in that time I've built the team that will build this product.

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

#112

Post by yepnopemaybe »

wang_li wrote: post #97
dpifke wrote: 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?

8. If I decide to can I come get my solar panel and take it to my cabin?

Great question! We've often contemplated the Vinovest.io model. Vinovest sells fine wine as an investment. Because you own the individual bottles and are entitled, for a fee, to have them sent to your door, they avoid most securities headaches.

I wonder if we could do that for individual panels, particularly given deployment of module level Enphase micro inverters.

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

#113

Post by yepnopemaybe »

rr808 wrote: post #34

I'd love a good list of different commercial wind/power investments. So much green washing out there.

It turns out its tough to get exposure to direct equity in renewable infrastructure, particularly as a retail investor. Do you mind if I put that in my business plan?

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

#114

Post by IncRnd »

Why didn't the company have the ability to get the cash from a bank in the first place? I imagine there is less stress created for a investor by purchasing panels for their own home or business and pocketing the savings, instead of giving the same money to a business that apparently wasn't able to secure the same loan from an investor.

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

#115

Post by chiefalchemist »

yepnopemaybe wrote: post #57
foobiekr wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one in their right mind wants to build a pseudo-investment company dealing with tons of small investors in the few hundreds of dollars to few thousands of dollars range. The only thing missing here is a crypto coin. If they really have a business model that can yield 8+% annual, assuming they get a cut, then they would raise real capital and not deal with randos. They don’t.

We will never work with crypto because we care about our investors and don't intend on defrauding them. There are plenty of small retail investing companies that deal with small account sizes. Acorns, Robinhood, etc. come to mind. Over time, I'd hope that our average account size would be in the 10K+ range, but depending on CAC, small dollar would be fine. Our innovation here is investment UX. The realized return mig…

I'm ~20 pages from finishing the book "Local Dollar, Local Sense" by Michael Shuman. Your approach is refreshing and creative yet (I presume) SEC compliant.

Kudos for letting the unaccredited have an influence on the future too.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9WkwIX2MHA

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

#116

Post by yepnopemaybe »

esses wrote: post #90
yepnopemaybe wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say we are 80% of the way there - every solar facility will have different traits and economics as an investment. We have the legal infrastructure and finance partners to make it happen pretty quick. As with any investment, we can't make claims about financials until everything is finalized and vetted. That will have to wait until we have a pro forma ready to go. Soliciting 'indications of interest' is a fairly c…

You are soliciting "indications of interest" with an estimated 7.3% yield with no justification whatsoever on the site to back it up.

That's why it's 'no commitment', but I would not set exceptions at 7.3% if I did not expect the product to be at or near that number. Our accredited investors do better, but again, that's with tax equity.

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

#117

Post by yepnopemaybe »

powera wrote: post #93

What about batteries? One of the problems with mass solar panel deployment is that the sun only shines during the day, but people want electricity at night. Batteries are expensive, so initial deployments often rely on slack in the system. Once you are at a substantial part of the production in an area, that won't work.

Absolutely! That could be one of our next categories after solar. Depending on the facility, there could be on-site battery storage owned and operated by other non-Legends investors for the time being.

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

#118

Post by chiefalchemist »

seoaeu wrote: post #106
ac29 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can buy dividend paying shares of companies who operate utility scale solar power plants. No, those shares dont equal a specific panel, but should that really matter to an investor?

Owning a specific solar panel seems strictly worse. What if yours malfunctions and has to be replaced? Averaged over all the solar panels in the plant that might be a negligible risk, but if you own just one then you could be the unlucky investor that randomly suffers a total loss

Fair point. But what about insurance? Certainly that would cover it.

That said, for some there's the appeal of investing locally, presuming the panel is say intra-state. That type of investing pays different dividends (e.g., grow local tax base, grows local jobs, etc.) Some accept the trade-offs.

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

#119

Post by yepnopemaybe »

IncRnd wrote: post #114

Why didn't the company have the ability to get the cash from a bank in the first place? I imagine there is less stress created for a investor by purchasing panels for their own home or business and pocketing the savings, instead of giving the same money to a business that apparently wasn't able to secure the same loan from an investor.

Great question.

Often new solar facilities come with tax benefits (ITC and MACERS depreciation) that the power consumer is unable to monetize - this is particularly true of non-profits and other businesses with very low tax bills. So they sell their solar facility to a private investor who is better able to exploit the tax benefits (i.e. people and orgs who have a lot of highly taxable income).

Legends can come in either at the beginning of that life cycle by selling off the tax equity to private investors and the panels themselves and the revenue they generate (i.e. sponsor equity) to retail investors. We can also come in after the tax benefits have been exploited (5-7 years after commissioning) and purchase the solar facility from the tax motivated investor.

In the future, we plan to bring project finance in house and do some origination work, as well. We are still at the start of our journey.

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