Solar DAO (https://solardao.me) is a closed-end fund created by a team of Russian energy experts and designed to invest in PV solar plants around the world. Solar DAO creates a new financial tool that empowers small investors to participate in financing the construction of solar energy plants worldwide, circumventing technical barriers. Solar DAO white paper matches the project’s ambitious vision with a detailed strategy and is available at: http://solardao.me/files/wpeng.pdf The project has already gained traction in the Bitcoin community: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2020066 Solar DAO will be financed through the ICO for tokens that will grant access to the project’s full profit (100%)
Solar DAO (https://solardao.me) is a closed-end fund created by a team of Russian energy experts and designed to invest in PV solar plants around the world. Solar DAO creates a new financial tool that empowers small investors to participate in financing the construction of solar energy plants worldwide, circumventing technical barriers.
Solar DAO white paper matches the project’s ambitious vision with a detailed strategy and is available at: http://solardao.me/files/wpeng.pdf
The project has already gained traction in the Bitcoin community: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2020066
Solar DAO will be financed through the ICO for tokens that will grant access to the project’s full profit (100%) through the quarterly distribution of dividends. The preliminary ICO will be held from July the 27th until August the 31st, and could be finished earlier if the team achieves $4M, the capital target of this stage.
Technology: How PV solar plants work
PV (photovoltaics) is a conversion of sun energy into electricity with the help of solar panels that transform sunlight into direct electrical current (DC) with voltage up to 1500 V. At the PV solar plant, the panels are mounted on supporting structures and connected into successive chains. The chains of the solar panels are connected in groups to the on-grid inverters, which transform DC (direct current) to AC (alternating current).
Electricity is then sold to the central grid at a special tariff called Feed-in-Tariff (FiT). The tariff operates in accordance with the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) lasting up to 25 years. The PPA is the principal means for ensuring the ROI and profit generation for the solar plants.
PV solar plants are currently used by 143 countries worldwide. The total installed capacity of PV plants globally has increased more than 170 times during the last 16 years: from 1.4 GW in 2000, up to 237.3 GW in 2015, and is expected to grow. According to the most recent forecast of U.S. Energy Information Administration, solar energy will become the predominant source of renewable generation in the near future, representing more than 50% of new capacity additions between 2030 and 2040.
Economies of Scale & Transaction Costs
With solar energy’s declining capital costs and anticipated growth of global solar capacity, the industry looks increasingly promising for prospective investors.
The main problem for investing in PV solar plants is its high capital requirements. A prospective investor aiming to invest $100’000 or less faces various legal and technical issues, such as:
- Technical audit and legislation research
- Legal entity registration and costs related to the ownership
- Deal execution and intermediaries’ charges
Relying on intermediary services, one would see transaction costs rising up to 50% of the planned investment ($50’000). Needless to say, this makes the investment opportunity significantly less attractive.
Solar DAO aims to resolve this problem and democratize access to investments in PV solar plants for private investors with budgets as modest as $1. According to the project’s vision, this aim is to be achieved by seizing the advantages of blockchain technology that allows for a drastic reduction of transaction costs. Solar DAO opens up the opportunity for the investors worth $100 or less to gain profit from PV solar plants construction and management.
The Sunrise: What Solar DAO brings to the market
Solar DAO will be operating as an investment fund that will construct, launch and manage PV solar plants, continuously expanding their capacity. The project will scale up by selling constructed PV solar to refinance the construction of the new ones with larger capacity. Profit will be generated both ways.
Constructed PV solar plants will be managed by the Solar DAO. “DAO” stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organization, an entity run by smart contracts, self-executing and self-enforcing computer protocols that do not require intermediary participation and thus greatly reduces contracting costs.
Solar DAO uses Ethereum blockchain, currently the most used smart contracts platform. Ethereum allows the users to anonymously buy, own, and trade Solar DAO tokens, as well as acquire dividends as a result of the project’s work. Like shares, the tokens are tradable; however, the owners are protected from the common issues of corporate governance thanks to smart contracts. The smart contract technology ensures accountability and transparency of the PV solar plants construction, freeing the users from agency problems and securing their identity.
The Team
Solar DAO has a dedicated team of solar energy professionals with 25 years worth of expertise.
The project is conducted under the auspices of UNISOLEX, formerly known as Solar Wind. Founded in 1991, Solar Wind launched the production of solar modules for industrial customers, notably for spacecraft engineering. Between 2000 and 2013, while continuing sales of the solar panels to Europe, Canada, and Australia, the company earned a reputation for being a major expert in solar plants construction. It has also expanded geographically, participating in solar plant construction projects in Germany, Portugal, Czech Republic, and Italy (more than 70 MWp of PV solar plants).
In the same decade, Solar Wind helped to start new solar energy production facilities in Russia, Spain, and Israel. Since 2013, the company, renamed UNISOLEX, develops and realizes investment projects in solar plants construction for its own customers, in Europe and beyond.
The Solar DAO opportunity
Over the years, the team has built up a solid body of expertise in PV solar plants construction and management. Based on this knowledge, Solar DAO has developed a detailed due diligence procedure to reduce investment risks, involving complex technical and legal audits of PV solar projects.
In that respect, Solar DAO is similar to closed-end venture capital funds. However, as different from VC, it focuses on a proven technology with an established market and reliable future. The best proof of this is the project’s impressive geography, including PV solar plants in Israel, Slovenia, Portugal, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, and expanding further. In particular, Solar DAO is looking forward to enter the markets of Slovenia, Croatia, India, and beyond.
With its ability to combine field-specific expertise with cutting-edge technological solutions like Ethereum blockchain, Solar DAO offers a promising opportunity for risk-averse small investors to join continuously developing solar energy industry.
This summer is the time of opportunity for investors to acquire membership in the project and access to its full profit. Solar DAO is conducting a Pre-ICO crowdsale campaign until the 31st of August. The company issued 80M tokens at a price of $1 per token, and offers lucrative bonuses for the early birds (up to 100% for those joining in the first week). Since undistributed tokens will be destroyed, and the release of additional ones is closed out, this is the first and the last opportunity to join the venture on extremely favourable terms. Join in to catch the sun on rise!
Follow the project on Telegram: https://t.me/solardao
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of any The Merkle employees. This is not investment or trading advice, always do your own independent research.