When a solar installation appears on Sunbucks, the project is not waiting for customers to finance its construction. Sunbucks has already funded and arranged the installation at the host site.
That distinction matters. Schools, hospitals and other host organisations receive the solar installation first. The system is built, commissioned and brought into operation before selected solar cells are offered through the Sunbucks platform.
Only once the project is generating electricity and commercial revenue do identified cells become available for customers to buy and, if they choose, lease back to Sunbucks under a fixed-term equipment-rental arrangement.
Sunbucks Funds the Solar Installation Up Front
A crowdfunding model normally raises money from a group of people so that a project can be financed or built. Sunbucks works differently.
Sunbucks finances, develops and arranges the solar installation before customers buy cells from that project. Customer purchases are therefore not used to raise the capital needed to build the installation.
The aim is simple: the project must already exist as a working solar asset before it becomes part of the Sunbucks rental model.
First the Project Produces Power
Once construction is complete, the installation must be commissioned and connected so it can produce electricity for the host site.
For a school, that can mean reducing the amount of electricity bought from the grid. For a hospital or other facility, the project may form part of a wider energy-supply arrangement. The commercial structure varies by project, but the principle does not: Sunbucks waits until the installation is operating and generating value before cells are offered on the platform.
This means a customer is not being asked to fund a promise that a solar project may be built in the future. The installation is already there and producing power.
Then Individual Solar Cells Are Offered Through Sunbucks
After the project reaches the operating stage, selected physical solar cells can be made available for purchase through Sunbucks.
Each purchased cell is individually identified. After the purchase is completed, the customer owns that identified physical cell subject to the applicable Terms and Project Information.
The customer can then allow Sunbucks to continue using and managing the cell by leasing it back under the project's equipment-rental arrangement. The process is explained in How Does Solar Cell Rental Work?
Rental Fees Are Not a Share of Project Profit
This is another important difference from many investment or crowdfunding structures.
A Sunbucks customer does not receive shares in the host project, an ownership percentage in Sunbucks, dividends, interest or a percentage of the project's profits.
The payment is a contractual equipment-rental fee for Sunbucks' use of the customer's identified solar cell. How those fees are calculated is explained separately in How Are Sunbucks Solar Cell Rental Fees Calculated?
Sunbucks vs Crowdfunding
- Project funding: Sunbucks funds and arranges the solar installation before customers purchase cells.
- Project status: The installation is completed, commissioned and operating before selected cells are offered.
- What the customer buys: An identified physical solar cell, not a share in a fundraising vehicle or project company.
- Why money is paid: To purchase the identified cell, not to provide construction capital for the solar installation.
- What the customer receives: Contractual equipment-rental fees if the cell is leased back to Sunbucks, rather than a share of project profit.
Why This Structure Matters
The difference changes the order of risk and responsibility.
Sunbucks takes responsibility for getting the installation funded and operational before the customer purchase stage. The customer is not being asked to finance construction and wait to see whether enough people participate for the project to proceed.
By the time cells are offered, the solar installation is already part of an operating project with a defined host site, project timetable and commercial arrangement.
What Happens After You Buy a Cell?
After purchase, the identified cell can remain installed and managed as part of the existing solar project. Under the lease-back arrangement, Sunbucks handles the practical operation of the cell within the installation, including the services described in the applicable project terms.
The customer does not need a suitable roof or need to install solar equipment at home. For the step-by-step post-purchase process, see What Happens After I Buy a Sunbucks Solar Cell?
The Key Point
Sunbucks is not asking customers to finance the construction of schools, hospitals or other solar installations.
Sunbucks funds and establishes those projects up front. The installation must first be built, commissioned and generating electricity and commercial revenue. Only then are selected identified solar cells offered for purchase and optional lease-back through Sunbucks.
That sequence — fund, build, operate, then offer cells — is the reason the Sunbucks model is fundamentally different from crowdfunding. For a broader overview of the company and model, read Is Sunbucks.com Legitimate?