Solar Bonds
Even if you live in the shade you can build a solar legacy!
The Slice of Sun Solar Bonds Program allows co-op members to buy solar bonds that help fund community solar projects and earn between 3% and 5% interest.
Legacy Solar Co-op doesn’t only provides technical assistance to homes and businesses that want to “go solar.” We also help community groups develop solar legacy projects on ideal roofs in their neighborhoods. The resulting energy and pollution savings are shared by all through lower cost energy use.
The Legacy Solar Co-op brings people together to get community solar projects off the ground
We have a Solar Bond program through our Co-op that lets us facilitate community solar projects by providing part of the financing to pay for the projects up front or in the first year of the project’s development. Projects all differ in their costs and in their benefits, but over time and over many different projects, solar has a solid financial value that pays back those who helped fund a project in the first place.
It is this long-term financial value of solar that we are harnessing with our solar loans and with the Slice of Sun Solar Bonds program.
How does it work?
A lot of folks don’t have a sunny roof to put solar on. Others have a sunny roof, but it’s a condominium or an apartment, and not theirs to use as they like. Still others have a sunny roof that they own, but are either a non-profit or lack the up-front capital needed to get a solar project put together.
Local stakeholders decide where they want to put the solar project (could be on the roof of a library, a school, a house of worship, or some other community building or business), and LSC teams up with you to negotiate an agreement between the those who fund the project and the community group that is hosting the solar array. Solar bonds go to fund the solar legacy project.
Slice-of-Sun Solar Bonds
Solar Bonds allow any member to support a Solar Legacy project and earn between 3% and 5% interest on their bonds purchased through the co-op.
These bonds help secure the solar project and can either be cashed in after 7 years, rolled-over into a Legacy term (25-years), or can be donated at any time as a tax-deductible donation to a participating non-profit host site for a solar project. For example, a local church is currently enjoying a portion of the energy savings (over $3,000 a year), but the more bonds the church owns, the more energy savings they get to keep for their own parish’s budget. Everybody saves and earns and benefits from the good that is being done thanks to the solar project.
You can buy Slice-of-Sun Solar Bonds that earn interest for as little as $250. Or you can sponsor as many full solar panels as you’d like for $500 each. Sponsorship can be direct donations to a participating non-profit or through the purchase of bonds that are then gifted to the non-profit of your choosing.
Each $250 solar bond (your slice-of-sun) is equivalent to roughly 170 Watts of a solar panel, which puts the entry price to participate in this program at about $1.50 per Watt. That’s cheaper than buying solar for your own home and lower than any utility sponsored community solar program because we don’t have to pay shareholders 15% or more in profits to stay in business.
Being a cooperative allows us to come together and do something on a larger scale – something that would be either impossible or much more difficult to accomplish if we tried to do it alone.
Want to know more?
Download this PDF for more information about the Slice of Sun program and to get started.
The two rules for purchasing a solar bonds
You must be:
- A member of the Legacy Solar Cooperative, and
- A Wisconsin resident.
These are required to comply with State and Federal Statutes governing this type of business transaction. Becoming an equity member of the Legacy Solar Co-op means you are an owner of the Co-op, and qualify to buy bonds issued by the Co-op to serve the Co-op’s business interests, which lie in developing more and more solar projects to serve our members and share in the energy and environmental savings that come with solar and energy efficiency.
Complete details regarding the Legacy Solar Cooperative and the bond terms can be found on the Bond Disclosures Packet.
