Would you like to convert sunshine into dividends?
How to easily invest in — and profit from — solar energy production.
Investing in Energy
Investing in the energy space isn’t new.
Many fossil fuel companies have been publicly traded for a long time. In fact, not that long ago Exxon Mobil was the largest American company, as measured by market capitalization.
There are also publicly traded companies, like First Solar, involved in manufacturing and distributing solar panels.
But what if you wanted to invest in actual solar power deployments?
What if you wanted fractional ownership and passive income from a solar farm?
Energea helps you do just that.
What is Energea?
Energea is an investment platform for renewable energy projects. The projects are organized into thematic portfolios based on location. All portfolios are managed by the Energea team.
Currently it is possible to invest in solar portfolios for the USA, Africa, and Brazil.
What are investment terms of note?
- This is NOT a liquid investment. Shares of the portfolios must be held for at least 3 years. Consider your liquidity requirements carefully!
- There are fees. These are taken out before dividend payments, so you never owe anything. The target IRR percentages already factor in the fees on the portfolio. See the FAQ for more details.
- The minimum investment is $100.
What are target returns?
These vary based on the portfolio:
- 6–8% for the USA portfolio
- 10–12% for the Africa portfolio
- 14–16% for the Brazil portfolio
Are there risks?
You bet! All investments have risk. Energea provides upsides and risks for each portfolio. Broadly speaking the risks are some combination of:
- Solar installations performing worse than expected
- Construction delays or unforeseen costs
- Foreign currency exchange rate risks
- Unexpected delays, fees, or regulatory risks operating in a foreign country
- Risk of customer default
In terms of the number of risks listed, the US portfolio has the least and the Brazil portfolio has the most.
Other Notes on the Investing Experience
Energea offers a “Core” portfolio option. This allows you to invest in 2–3 of the portfolios at the same time. You can also customize the percentage of investment dollars going to each portfolio.
Do this to invest the minimum of $100, but have it diversified across 2–3 of the portfolios.
Energea also offers the option to reinvest dividends. For any portfolio, you can see how this affects your projected returns.
In this example, I configured a $100 monthly investment for 5 years, with 5 years of dividend reinvestment.
There is an automatic investment option. The minimum investment is still $100. This pairs great with the “Energea Core” option discussed above. You can pick the day of the month the investment is processed.
Dividends are paid monthly.
Shortly after dividends are paid, project commentary is also provided on each of the portfolios. It can provide helpful context for why a portfolio underperformed. It’s also a chance to get updates on things like new project construction.
Take a look at this link if you’d like an even more in-depth overview of Energea and how to use the platform.
Other Options
Renewables.org offers the ability to invest in loans used to finance solar projects in Asia and Africa. The projected return is 6% APY over the course of a 10 year loan. These offerings are available only to accredited investors.
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