Solar States owner Micah Gold-Markel carries a solar panel from a truck to the house where it will be installed. Jeff Brady/NPR hide caption toggle caption Jeff Brady/NPR PHILADELPHIA — On a recent cold morning, Micah Gold-Markel helped his installation crew hoist new solar panels onto the roof of a two-story, red brick house. The installation was like many others his company, Solar States, has performed since 2008, with one big difference: This time, the homeowner isn’t buying the panels. Instead, the homeowner will lease the panels from another company, called LightReach. For most of his own company’s history, Gold-Markel avoided leasing. With these arrangements, sometimes called subscriptions or power purchase agreements (PPAs), a third party owns the panels and leases them back to the homeowner. But last summer, President Trump signed legislation that ended federal tax incentives that had cut at least 30% off the price of purchased panels. Similar incentives for leased panels remain. That’s prompting solar company owners around the country to now embrace leasing, hoping that will help them stay in …