THE high fees that private-equity firms charged in the boom, typically 2% of the assets they oversee (the “management” fee) and 20% of the upside (the “performance” fee), are harder to pocket now.

And that raises a bigger management question-how institutions can resist the pressure to grow when a boom is in progress.

Further dampening hopes for a big solar-energy boom, the federal Bureau of land Management (BLM) has abruptly slapped a moratorium on new applications to put solar collectors on federal land.