So problem, as I understand, is that it requires significant amount of capital to get going for independent company, and they might go under if big company cut them. And the big companies undercut independent ones so later they could raise price.

So I had this question - what if state would commit to 10-20 years worth of contracts with some kind of locked in rate (adjusted for inflation or something), not just one off contract? This way independent company would have more motivation to do major capital investment, and big companies will not be able to undercut small players on one off job, only to get all next ones for 20% more..

Hopefully this makes sense.