Earlier this year we asked everyone who had registered their interest in investing in SolarShare to provide feedback on two options on our governance and voting structure.
Based on the results, as well as advice from legal and financial professionals, we will be adopting a one member, one vote (democratic) voting structure.
The decision was informed by what would be acceptable to the largest number of people as well as the likely impact on investment intentions.
Overall, most of those who participated in the survey found either the democratic or investment based structure acceptable.
Small investors tended to prefer democratic voting while the larger investors (those interested in investing over $10,000) were only slightly more likely to prefer investment based voting. Our analysis indicated that a similar level of investment would be raised by either the democratic or investment size option but the democratic option would result in a larger membership base.
Some survey participants raised the concern that a large number of small investors may outweigh the smaller number who supplied the bulk of the money and thus took a greater risk. However we are confident this will not be the case. 79% of people within the SolarShare community have registered to invest between $1,000 and $10,000 and this represents 66% of the total investment. These investors will have a sufficient level of influence to hold the board to account. It is also important to note that everyday decisions for running the business will be the responsibility of the board of directors who are required by law to act with regard to sound financial principles.
Some survey participants suggested that a hybrid approach be adopted, for example with bands of investment levels, testing motions both in terms of dollar votes and people votes, or different share classes. These alternatives were considered but were not ultimately selected because we believe simple solutions will drive success in all aspects of the SolarShare project.
Finally we would like to reassure you that the survey was completely anonymous and we do not know how individuals voted. We used a unique (coded) identifier to associate people’s individual responses with their proposed level of investment.
We are making good progress on identifying a developer and site for the solar farm and will provide news on these important issues soon.
