Member Pulse Results: A Decisive Vote for Innovation & Smart Risk Management
Updated: 3 days ago
Our recent Member Pulse survey delivered a clear message to the Board: OREC members are ready to help accelerate Ontario's energy transition through bold, innovative Distributed Energy Resources (DERs).
We asked for your guidance on expanding our reach into residential clean energy and local clean tech, and the feedback was both decisive and encouraging.
What We Heard From You
Overwhelming Support for Innovation: Respondents voted 4-to-1 in favor of the Board pursuing innovative, higher-risk renewable energy projects. The clear consensus is that OREC should pursue innovative clean energy opportunities when low-risk, traditional commercial solar contracts may not be forthcoming.
Decisive Mandate for Capital Segregation: Members voted equally overwhelmingly that OREC should create a separate Class of shares for such higher-risk ventures. You made it clear that higher-risk capital must be strictly isolated—allowing members who opt in to capture the higher potential yields, while completely insulating our traditional core portfolio from risk.
Strong Personal Investment Interest: A clear majority of responding of respondents indicated they would personally consider investing in a dedicated, higher-yield share class—and half of the respondents are already OREC investors.
Impact-Driven Community Values: Across both long-standing and newer members, responses leaned heavily toward "Impact First" and "Balanced" motivations, reinforcing that OREC is seen as a key vehicle for building sustainable local power.
Evaluating the Opportunity Landscape
Exploring incubator-style ventures requires reviewing a wide variety of local clean-tech opportunities. Over the past year, the Board conducted due diligence on four candidate projects, exercising careful caution to ensure any agreement serves the best interests of the co-op and its members. While we ultimately passed on several concepts that didn't align with our focus, our patience is paying off—we are currently navigating final regulatory and structural conditions on a promising front-runner project, bringing us close to finalizing our first incubator-style partnership.
To ensure member capital delivers maximum real-world value, the Board has established clear selection criteria for incubator investments:
Prioritizing New Energy Production: You told us loud and clear that new energy production projects are the most sought-after developments for our co-op. We listened. We're focused strictly on opportunities that directly result in new, tangible renewable energy infrastructure and generation within local communities.
Passing on Pure Secondary Asset Acquisitions: We are opting against simply acquiring existing, third-party contracted portfolios (for instance, we evaluated—and passed on—packages ranging from a 522-site residential MicroFIT portfolio to a multi-million dollar commercial FIT package), as buying existing legacy assets offers limited direct community impact compared to developing brand-new local power generation.
Passing on Pure Supplier Technology: While Ontario is home to impressive clean-tech innovators, we have so far decided against investing directly in energy system software or technology suppliers.
Our goal is to direct member capital toward high-impact, physical clean energy projects—such as residential DER aggregations and local microgrids—that actively expand Ontario's decentralized renewable power base.
What’s Next: Structuring the New Share Class
Throughout OREC’s history, our strength has come from our ability to pivot and innovate where traditional models stall. Driven by a tireless commitment to expanding community-owned, local renewable energy across Ontario, the Board is taking your clear mandate and translating it into action—actively designing a new share class within our upcoming offering to house these incubator-style ventures.
As we build out this structure, we are evaluating key parameters to ensure it balances high-impact growth with our core fiscal discipline:
Venture Terms: Setting appropriate investment horizons for early-stage DER partnerships.
Capital Protection vs. Dividend Yield: We are exploring whether a portion of members' initial capital should be guaranteed by OREC (e.g., 50%, 75%, or 100%). The trade-off is direct: the more capital OREC guarantees, the more risk the co-op absorbs—meaning OREC would retain a larger portion of the project's eventual payout, resulting in a lower dividend for guaranteed investments. Conversely, unbacked capital would command a significantly higher target yield.
We are taking the time to design a structure that honors your ambition for local impact while upholding OREC's commitment to fiscal prudence.
Stay tuned for more details as we prepare the formal terms for our next offering!
I agree with those who seek renewable energy investments that generate higher returns. The strategy to structure projects with higher dividends, less captial protection sounds interesting. OREC already offers investments that offer solid capital protection and reasonable dividend income. It sounds like you've also looked at and passed on equity investments as a vehicle for higher returns. I'd be curious to learn more about the thinking behind that.