When presenting a business proposal to savvy investors, there are several key criteria they will want covered.  First of which would be the sources of my existing funding, if any.  Am I reinvesting money from existing cash flow generating projects or is this all a brand new investment offering?  Investors will also want to know how much experience I have in the chosen field.  Do I have a portfolio of previous projects on which I’ve worked?  A proven track record means a lot especially in a field such as renewable energy where people with significant experience can be hard to find.  With renewable energy requiring more of a venture capital investor, I may also be asked my thoughts on the role of renewables and whether I am more interested profit or principle.  Also the corollary, if I believe renewable energy investment is something that must be “wanted” beyond the potential for positive return; therefore, I need an investor whom shares that vision.  If not, I will find myself battling for investment dollars with traditional investments that could early exhibit a track record of higher return on capital expenditure.

As far as finance processes I would use to sell my project, I believe the main two would be return on investment and net present value.  Return on investment, or ROI is a simple calculation of the percentage gain or loss of a particular investment over a period of time.  ROI is calculated using three criteria, cost of investment, gain on investment, and the difference between the two values.  It is a quick and dirty calculation that does not take into effect the effects of inflation or the opportunity cost of investing in a higher-return investment.  ROI works best for short-term projects.  Complementing ROI is net present value (NPV), which gives the investor a tangible figure of the overall value of their investment discounted back through years of inflation and opportunity cost via a hurdle rate into a value given in “today’s dollars.”  This discount rate could vary from project to project depending on scope and even from investor to investor as one may demand a rate of 12% versus 8% for another.  Regardless of the investor, the value will almost certainly be significantly greater than the expected inflation rate since sane investors could simply open a savings account if he or she desired to watch their money’s value erode.  NPV is an excellent tool for comparing longer term investments.  No matter how good the sales technique for an investment is, it always comes down to what I will make of the investor’s money.

http://tipenergy.com/energy-blog/2013/8/23/net-present-value-solar-development-basics

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/returnoninvestment.asp