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Show me where I can buy an operating solar panel if I don't have a suburban rooftop. Would make my life so much easier!

You can buy dividend paying shares of companies who operate utility scale solar power plants. No, those shares dont equal a specific panel, but should that really matter to an investor?

Owning a specific solar panel seems strictly worse. What if yours malfunctions and has to be replaced? Averaged over all the solar panels in the plant that might be a negligible risk, but if you own just one then you could be the unlucky investor that randomly suffers a total loss

Fair point. But what about insurance? Certainly that would cover it.

That said, for some there's the appeal of investing locally, presuming the panel is say intra-state. That type of investing pays different dividends (e.g., grow local tax base, grows local jobs, etc.) Some accept the trade-offs.

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