2 MW landowner and community owned
solar farms
Fast Track Investment Program
Albany County, New York
Solar Farms in Albany, County New York can now be owned by landowners and the local community.
Our 2 – 5 MW Fast Track Landowner and Community owned solar farm development program is for community members and landowners of Albany County, New York.
Our primary goal is to bring power, profits, and jobs back to the people who live and work in their communities. After carefully analyzing Federal Energy Regulation Committee guidelines, Solarcollab has identified a low cost, fast track model to develop, fund and build 2 MW solar farms across Albany County, New York for community members who live in the cities of Albany, Alcove, Altamont, Berne, Clarksville, Coeymans, Coeymans Hollow, Cohoes, Delmar, East Berne, Feura Bush, Glenmont, Guilderland, Guilderland Center, Knox, Latham, Medusa, Newtonville, Preston Hollow, Ravena, Rensselaerville, Slkirk, Slingerlands, South Bethleham, Troy, Voorheesville, Watervliet and Westerlo.
Why only 2 MW?
Primarily because we can get them constructed and interconnected to the grid in record time, at minimal cost, and with fewer regulatory requirements.
This is a solar energy investment program is completely unique… a first of its kind, conceived by Solarcollab. The program is designed to allow landowners not just to earn income from leasing their land, but to also participate in the OWNERSHIP of the solar farm.
We are able to apply for rural grants that reduces the total cost of each solar farm… and we will raise the money for each project on the Solarcollab Investment Platform, selling shares of the Solar Power Plant to members of the local community. This is the first program of its kind that is designed to redistribute the profits of the venture back to the people where each solar project is located by crowdselling shares of ownership for each solar farm.
Four Easy Steps To Begin The Process
What makes a good Solar Farm site location?
Solarcollab’s Fast Track Landowner and Community Owned Solar Farm program leverages Fintech protocols on the blockchain that allows us to be able to develop these solar projects in a low cost model so that we can offer equity shares of the solar project to the landowner and local community. Profits that would normally go to a large corporation, are now redirected back to the local community. Check to see if your land meets the following criteria:
We are democratizing Solar Farm Ownership!
Solarcollab raises the funds for your community solar farm on our crowd investment platform. For as little as $1 a share members of the local community can now actually buy stock in their community solar farm. The profits that the solar farm earns will be sent to their digital wallet on a quarterly basis.
Host A Solar Farm Application Form
Complete every field in this form and we will start the process to see if we can bring a community owned solar farm to your local area. Please remember, we need all the information requested below to proceed.
Questions and Answers Zoom Calls
Join our bi-weekly zoom conference call that show cases an innovative use case of a cutting edge blockchain solution from one of our blockchain consortium members.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are the most common questions we receive about our 2 MW Fast Track Landowner and Community owned solar farm impact investment program.
Landowners
A solar land lease is a contract between the property owner and Solarcollab that allows us to build a solar farm on your property in exchange for lease payments to the landowner. Each land lease contract is different, but generally the contract is for 20 years and sometimes there may be an option to extend the term for an additional number of years.
The power generated by the solar farm will be sold to your power grid. This could be a local co-op, large energy company, or individual company.
With the current process involving city planning and permits, along with working through details of contracts, the process can take anywhere from 6 months to 3 years. During this time you’ll be free to continue using your land.
Solarcollab will contract out the operations and maintenace  for the solar farm during its life, and will remove all equipment and reclaim your property once the project has ended.
We are in the process of updating the answer to "Does a solar farm affect property taxes and if so, who pays those taxes?"... this section will be complete by February 14, 2021.
We are in the process of updating the answer to "How much land do I need for a typical solar farm?"... this section will be complete by February 14, 2021.
We are in the process of updating the answer to "What other criteria make up an ideal site for a solar farm?"... this section will be complete by February 14, 2021.
We are in the process of updating the answer to "I have multiple offers from other solar developers, how do I choose the best one?"... this section will be complete by February 14, 2021.
We are in the process of updating the answer to "How do I start the process of working with Solarcollab to learn about hosting a solar farm on my vacant land?"... this section will be complete by February 14, 2021.
We are in the process of updating the answer to "Is there an opportunity for me to own part of the solar farm that will be on my land?"... this section will be complete by February 14, 2021.
We are in the process of updating the answer to "How do I start the process of working with Solarcollab to learn about hosting a solar farm on my vacant land?"... this section will be complete by February 14, 2021.
Investments
The initial cost to develop a community or utility scale solar energy project is quite expensive. However, once they are constructed they are not that expensive to operate and maintain for the next 25 years. One of the ways that we fund these solar projects is through crowdfunding. In general, the term crowdfunding refers to any online-based, collective investment by multiple people (i.e. the crowd) for a specific project. Solar project developers or owners present their projects on the Solarcollab crowdfunding investment platform in order to solicit financial support from the general public. As each solar project generates clean renewable electricity, the electricity is sold to the local utility or third-party commercial entities under a long term contract. The revenue from these revenue streams are used to initially pay for the operating and maintenance expenses of the solar energy system. The rest of the revenue is used to pay down for the project financing, debt, taxes and administration or the solar asset.
We are in the process of updating the answer to "How is my investment income paid to me?"... this section will be complete by February 14, 2021.
We are in the process of updating the answer to "How liquid is my initial investment?"... this section will be complete by February 14, 2021.
The internal rate of return is a metric used in financial analysis to estimate the profitability of potential investments. The internal rate of return is a discount rate that makes the net present value (NPV) of all cash flows equal to zero in a discounted cash flow analysis. IRR calculations rely on the same formula as NPV does.
When you invest with Solarcollab, you are buying a piece of a solar energy power plant, similar to buying a piece of real estate. You have "equity" in the project and literally and legally own a portion of it. Investments in "real assets" such as this are inherently illiquid. The objective is to put long-term savings and investment capital "to work" by investing in a diversified portfolio of solar energy projects and collecting dividends over a long period. That said, if an investor desires to sell their stock in a portfolio during the operational life of an investment, Solarcollab will make commercially reasonable efforts to buy that stock from the investor according to the terms and conditioned set forth in the Reg A Offering Circular for each investment. Solarcollab is actively working on a secondary market option for the purchase and sale of these stocks by and between platform investors.
Return on Investment (ROI) is a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. ROI tries to directly measure the amount of return on a particular investment, relative to the investment’s cost. To calculate ROI, the benefit (or return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment. The result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio.
Albany County is a county in the state of New York, in the United States. Its northern border is formed by the Mohawk River, at its confluence with the Hudson River, which is on the east. As of the 2010 census, the population was 304,204. The county seat and largest city is Albany, the state capital of New York. As originally established by the English government in the colonial era, Albany County had an indefinite amount of land, but has had an area of 530 square miles (1,400 km2) since March 3, 1888. The county is named for the Duke of York and of Albany, who became James II of England (James VII of Scotland).