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N.J. solar-energy companies face challenges
It was the early 2000s, and Steve Masapollo was about to take the leap and quit his job managing a chain of psychiatric-treatment centers and start his own solar-installation company.
The market was wide open, and the combination of state and federal incentives was an alluring package for homeowners who could afford solar’s hefty up-front price tag. By early 2009, Masapollo said, his company was approaching $100 million in sales.
But almost three years later, as incentives for homeowners to go solar have diminished, he has watched the industry shift. It has gone from a small cast of homespun contractors installing modest, rooftop systems to large projects undertaken by big out-of-state solar companies and the utilities themselves. (Osborne, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
