Matthew Caryofilles got a phone call last week asking if he'd be available today for "a great opportunity" at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, where his company helped install hundreds of solar panels last year.

The details were sketchy, Caryofilles said. All he was told was that he should block off the entire day and be available at a moment's notice.

Then on Sunday, the owner of SALT Electric learned he would be among a few hundred people on hand when President Barack Obama signs his first major piece of legislation - the $787 billion stimulus bill.

Obama chose the museum for the signing in part because of the solar array on its roof - the kind of job-creating investment the president hopes the stimulus package will promote.

SALT did the wiring on the project, which also included local companies Namaste Solar and Hybrid Energy Group.

"I'm just proud that Colorado gets to be at center stage, and that our project gets to be at center stage," Caryofilles said Monday. "It's really great."

Caryofilles is hopeful the stimulus, which includes more than $40 billion to encourage renewable energy and energy efficiency, will help his business pick up.

SALT Electric has helped install solar everywhere from the Governor's Mansion to the Pepsi Center and the Colorado Convention Center.

But in recent months, several projects his Denver company was supposed to be working on were put on hold.

In some cases, homeowners were worried about spending the money or getting home equity loans.

Large commercial projects were halted by the credit crisis.

With the passage of the stimulus, Caryofilles predicts that his staff of about a half-dozen employees could double by July.

He isn't sure if he'll get to meet Obama today, but he'd like to tell him he's impressed that the president's "campaign chatter" wasn't just rhetoric.

"It's just a real boost to the American public that we have a government that will work for us," he said.