Big investments in big solar energy prospects are nothing especially new. What is relatively new is a way for small retail investors to join the party. Mosaic Inc., a two-year old startup in Oakland, Calif., offers just such a way.

Mosaic has adopted the crowdfunding model that is perhaps best known as Kickstarter. Anyone in California and New York, and accredited investors in other states, may invest as little as $25 in a solar photovoltaic (PV) project at the Mosaic website.

Unlike the big banks that have committed large sums to finance a variety of solar installations, Mosaic seeks projects valued at between $50,000 and $2 million with a payback period of 15 years or less. The firm does not take on construction risk; rather, it acquires a portion of the revenue that flows from the power-purchase arrangement with the organization that installed the solar PV system. Then Mosaic offers notes to investors backed by the revenue stream from the power generated by the solar installation.

Tax equity schemes and other incentives do not play a role in the company’s selection of projects to fund nor in the payments to investors.

For its trouble, the company charges a monthly 1% fee based on the amount in an investor’s account. The average investor account amounts to about $1,200, and a typical account is spread across multiple projects. Mosaic has offered yields of 4.4% to 6.4% on 14 different projects so far. A fifteenth project valued at $438,650 is currently 86% funded, and will pay a 4.4% yield over nine years.

The company does not finance private homeowners’ rooftop installations, but seeks instead to find investment opportunities among not-for-profit projects like affordable housing and other public facilities. Investors generally are environmentally conscious and welcome the opportunity to “do well by doing good.”

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