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Since Tope Lala and George Dunning incorporated Maryland home improvement company Homefix Corp. in 1990, the business has grown from two people to 50, from one office to six and from a few hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual revenue to $15 million.

Now that clean energy and green building standards are becoming more mainstream, the Homefix owners are turning to the sun. Lala and Dunning partnered with Geoff Mirkin and Al Gleeson to recently start Solar Energy World, a company based in Jessup that designs and installs photovoltaic solar panels and hot water heaters.

"We grew Homefix Corp. through superior customer service," Lala said. "We know how to satisfy our customers. We plan to use the same concept to grow our business in the solar industry."

Such businesses are aided by an array of incentives on the federal, state and local level. Maryland this week fine-tuned its popular solar grant program, which had a waiting list of small business owners and homeowners who sought the funds to subsidize photovoltaic solar arrays, solar water heaters and geothermal systems.

Applications received after Sept. 1 for solar water heaters can receive 30 percent of their installation costs, up to $2,000. Before Tuesday, they could receive up to $3,000. The maximum grant award for photovoltaic solar arrays is still $10,000, but there is a new structure starting with $1.25 per watt for the first 2,000 watts of capacity. The amount drops to 75 cents per watt for 2,001 to 8,000 watts, and then 25 cents per watt for 8,001 to 20,000 watts.

The Tuesday deadline caused companies such as Solar Energy World to receive more calls early this week from business owners and residents wanting to get their applications in under the older, more generous guidelines. State officials said the new rules were implemented to allow more companies and businesses to qualify and the money to last longer into the fiscal year.

The state solar grant program was recently boosted by federal stimulus and other funds to cover applicants on a waiting list, said Malcolm Woolf, director of the Maryland Energy Administration.

"Maryland is consistently a leader in clean energy and energy efficiency policies and programs," he said in a statement. "Our new programs and expanded existing energy programs will put more Marylanders to work through the creation of green-collar jobs."

The changes in the state program make sense, said Mirkin, who was an owner and sales manager of a Homefix Corp. subsidiary before moving on to work full-time at the solar company, overseeing sales and operations.

"If it gets more people to look at solar panels or water heaters, that is positive," he said.

Besides the state incentives, homeowners can receive a 30 percent federal tax credit for purchasing solar equipment such as heating, lighting and energy generators. Several Maryland counties — Montgomery, Howard, Prince George's, Harford and Anne Arundel — offer additional property tax credits for solar equipment.

"With all of the incentives out there, homeowners and businesses can subsidize more than 60 percent of their costs for solar equipment," Mirkin said. "It's a great time to purchase solar equipment."

Cost savings factors

Cost savings on energy bills for businesses and residents who have solar panels or heaters installed depend on factors such as the amount of energy usage, the rooftop space on buildings and how much they are shaded, Mirkin and Lala said.

"New developments with few trees usually work best," Mirkin said. The average savings is around 50 percent, he said.

Gleeson, president of long-time Bladensburg contracting company Al Gleeson Electric, oversees Solar Energy World's installations, which are done in-house, not subcontracted. Dunning handles marketing and branding, while Lala oversees accounting and legal, among other areas.

The company has about 12 employees in its 7,500-square-foot offices, including a spacious warehouse. Jessup, rather than Montgomery County, was chosen as a more central location to better serve the entire state, Lala said.

"We really feel that solar is the future," Mirkin said.

Standard Solar partner

Standard Solar, a Gaithersburg company that develops and installs solar electric systems founded in 2004, recently partnered with Pace Global Energy Services, a Fairfax, Va., business that provides advisory, financial and implementation services for the energy industry. The companies are developing some distributed power projects in the academic and commercial markets. Standard Solar has installed systems on top of government buildings and schools, among other sites.

With government incentives, technological improvements that are reducing the cost of solar equipment and a better regulatory environment, demand for solar is promising, said Tony Clifford, CEO of Standard Solar.

"We foresee an upward trend in electricity rates while the cost of implementing solar projects will fall," said Clifford, who recently was elected board president of the Maryland-Washington, D.C.-Virginia chapter of the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The outlook for 2009 is bright, according to the solar association's 2008 report. Capacity in both photovoltaic and solar water heating systems grew at record levels nationally in 2008, and the growth is expected to continue this year.