Issue Update: The JOBS Act and Crowdfunding

Issue Update: The JOBS Act and Crowdfunding

 About Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding or crowdsourcing is a cooperative approach to financing where many small investments from a large and diverse group of individuals (“the crowd”) collectively finance a single initiative.

The JOBS Act

The JOBS Act may finally allow thousands of regular folks to make a modest return (5-10%) by investing in local renewable energy projects. The Act allows for crowdfunding under the following circumstances:

• The project raises less than $1 million, and
• The project owner discloses certain financial information, such as income tax returns, financial statements reviewed by an accountant, or fully audited financial statements.
• The $1 million limit is the approximate cost of a 200 kW solar project, so crowdfunding could mean a significant boost for community-based solar arrays, especially in states with virtual net metering (allowing those potential investors to share the electricity output).

Check out our Community Power Network page on crowdfunding. John Farrell also has a excellent article on the subject and we’ve uploaded a great Bloomberg New Energy Finance report to our wiki.

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