If you are, you may be asking yourself: how can I own an energy system if I don't even own my own home? What if I only live here for a year? Wouldn't these systems be built into the home I rent? Wouldn't I need the land-lord's consent? And why would I want to own something in someone else's building? Wouldn't that just be helping them instead of me? Finally,  what if I move? What would happen to my equity?

These questions are entirely valid, and we will try to address them in order. 

An energy system can be built onto a building, where the technology is owned by one party and the building is owned by another. This is quite common with rooftop solar. Much of the time what you are seeing is a rooftop that is being leased by a solar company. The Own Your Power system is more involved, because you own it and it includes more than just roof-top solar, but also energy storage, geothermal, EVs and the wires and controls to connect the parts into a system. While Local Power concedes the program is not without novelty. But the basic division of ownership between building and technology is not. This has been established.

Doing it on another building

The easy way is to own share in a DER system on a nearby building. This could be a DER on municipal or other public property, or a system on a neighbor's building. In this case your ownership participation is relatively simple.

The downside is you will initially have access only to the vehicles with the possibility of connecting your building to it for purposes of power or heat over time.

Doing it on your building

You would indeed need the land-lord’s permission. Local Power is seeking to make two arrangements depending on your situation and desire. One is that the land-lord would own the energy system with you, and use it too. Another is the land-lord would lease the relevant surfaces to you, and anyone else participating in your system. We will of course seek to educate land-lords about this opportunity, which they also have where dwellers are ready and willing.

Equity is not like renting. It is an owned thing, an investment, a taking of risk in preference to the energy risk you have now. If you own something that ends up costing your more, it is a bad idea. So if you own an energy system where what you save on your fuel bills is less than what you are paying for your system, that is a bad idea. On the other hand if you are paying less, it is a good idea. In fact, even if you are paying the same amount this is a good idea: if you realize that you and your whole community can significantly reduce your climate impacts without paying more. 

But which of the two it is can only be discovered by going through the Own Your Power process with us. The result will be a concrete offer from a developer that you can decide to accept or reject without penalty or fee. Helping your land-lord may be counter-intuitive. But if the benefit to you is also great enough, that will be fine too. 
 
The renter is often on the move. But the energy system cannot go with the renter. What will happen to the renters equity will ultimately come down to what the energy users owning the system, including that renter, decide in an agreement we help you make.

Before any funds have been committed or debt accepted, the ownership structure will be created. This must occur for all group-owned assets.   The Own Your Power process is no different. But most importantly, it is organic. This means we want to reach the arrangement that satisfies all parties. We don't know what this will take. But we will help you through the process.
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Does this sound worth a go?
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