The path to a career in the solar industry is open to the people interested enough in the field. George Horrocks had a successful career working at technology startups in the aughts, but then came the Great Recession of 2008.
Helping rural businesses go solar has become a strong focus for Harmony Energy Works.
“I flew out to California, went to the Solar Living Institute with my knapsack, my tent and my sleeping bag,” Horrocks said. “It was a full week of intense training, and I came back and I started Harmony Energy Works (No. 386 on the 2025 Top Solar Contractors List).”
He was no longer developing databases for companies in computer design, software and hardware, but standing on rooftops in New Hampshire building solar arrays in the elements. Then in December 2009, Horrocks received a call from LightWave Solar with an offer to build solar in Tennessee.
It was there that he learned about the USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which provides loans and grants for energy projects serving businesses in rural areas. Farms that receive 50% of their income from agricultural sources, as well as small businesses, cooperatives, electric utilities and Tribal corporations, can qualify for this funding.
When Horrocks returned to New Hampshire after a year working with LightWave, he restarted and refocused Harmony Energy Works to help rural businesses qualify for REAP grants.
“The nice thing is it directly benefits a small, individual business,” Horrocks said. “It’s not about money for a big group of financiers or something. It’s about somebody who’s trying to improve their bottom line.”
In their first form, REAP grants provided 25% of a qualifying solar project’s costs. Last year, that was increased to 50% with $145 million in additional funding from the Inflation Reduction Act.
Harmony Energy Works has made applying for REAP grants a core part of its business, training three employees to write these hundred-page documents. Deb Leafe, grant and incentives manager at Harmony, has led the company’s grant-writing efforts in recent years, securing REAP grants for nearly every project the company has applied for.
“[REAP] took what might be a seven-year payback period down to three years,” Horrocks said. “In effect, if you had a tax appetite, we could guarantee if you got the USDA grant and the state rebate and the 30% tax credit, that you’re going to be cash-positive within three years. Last year, when the USDA grant doubled, we were looking at a one-year payback period.”
Harmony installs solar in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts. While Massachusetts is more urban, much of New Hampshire and Maine is considered rural. The company builds residential and small commercial arrays, keeping its crews busy with home projects while applying for REAP grants for rural businesses.
Horrocks estimated that about 80% of Harmony’s commercial work qualifies for REAP grants — work that otherwise wouldn’t pencil out financially. Under the current presidential administration, REAP has slowed issuing grants, but Harmony has already prepared six more projects that it plans to submit when applications open
in July.
Horrocks said rising energy costs are impacting many business owners in his region, especially rural farms and businesses with small margins to start. Installing a solar project can offset those costs, and grants like REAP can make more projects possible.
“That’s really what the USDA REAP grant does — it gives people a chance to be able to afford it, and the people who I think need it the most, the small business who’s just trying to survive,” he said.
This story was featured exclusively in our 2025 Top Solar Contractors issue. See the issue and full list of top U.S. solar installers here.