50 States of Solar Incentives: Maryland

The pv journal USA tour of photo voltaic incentives now takes us to our second cease within the DMV: Maryland, which, like its neighbor, Delaware, is among the most densely-populated states within the nation.

Equally to Delaware, Maryland generates lower than 5% of its electrical energy from photo voltaic assets, nonetheless this has extra to do with the state’s greater inhabitants than it does a scarcity of dedication to photo voltaic, at the very least traditionally. Maryland, so far, has put in roughly 1.5 GW of photo voltaic, good for 18th within the nation, in response to knowledge from Wooden Mackenzie and the Photo voltaic Vitality Industries Affiliation (SEIA). 

Maryland’s sturdy begin to its photo voltaic dedication has slowed down significantly since its peak in 2016, and the state is barely anticipated to put in simply over 1 GW of photo voltaic within the subsequent 5 years, which at present tasks to be thirty first within the nation over that point, in response to SEIA.

In April, the Maryland Legislature handed the Local weather Options Now Act of 2022, which hurries up Maryland’s present objective of decreasing greenhouse gasoline emissions from 40% of 2006 ranges to 60% by 2031, and it establishes 2045 because the state’s objective for changing into carbon impartial. Whereas Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has stated he gained’t veto the invoice, he gained’t signal it both, selecting as an alternative to let it cross by itself.

The American Council on Renewable Vitality (ACORE) referred to as the Act “one of many nation’s most sturdy local weather and clear vitality insurance policies”, and stated it’s laws that different states can mannequin because it “meets the second and places us on monitor for a sustainable, equitable future.”

Nearly all of photo voltaic capability put in in Maryland has come via residential tasks, so let’s check out among the insurance policies driving residential photo voltaic adoption within the Outdated Line State.

Residential photo voltaic

Along with the federal funding tax credit score of 26% for the price of tools put in, owners in Maryland who select to go photo voltaic are capable of promote their extra era again to the grid on the full retail electrical energy price, as a part of the state’s sturdy web metering coverage.

Internet metering is accessible to all prospects all through the state till the mixture capability of all net-metered programs reaches 3 GW, up from the outdated peak of 1.5 GW. Internet metered system dimension is ready at 2 MW cap, although prospects that use electrical service for agriculture might mixture all of their meters to be served by a single undertaking.

Residential photo voltaic programs in Maryland are totally exempt from each state and native county property taxes. Maryland additionally affords a statewide Residential Clear Vitality Grant Program, which offers grants to owners who set up plenty of renewable era applied sciences, together with photo voltaic programs. Administered by the Maryland Vitality Administration, owners who set up a residential photo voltaic system of at the very least 1 kW in capability are eligible for a rebate of as much as $1,000.

C&I initiatives

Like residential prospects, industrial and industrial (C&I) prospects in Maryland even have entry to the state’s sturdy web metering coverage, as long as their installations stay below 2 MW and don’t generate greater than 200% of the property’s electrical wants.

C&I prospects even have entry to grants for putting in photo voltaic programs over parking heaps with EV chargers. Such prospects should set up a minimal of 75 kW of photo voltaic canopies over the parking zone with a minimal of 4 Degree II or Degree III EV chargers. This system affords grants as much as $600 per kW of PV put in, with a most cap of $300,000 per undertaking and a complete funds, as of Fiscal 12 months 2021, of $1.6 million.

Group photo voltaic

In 2021, regulators in Maryland unanimously voted to broaden the capability of the state’s neighborhood photo voltaic program in addition to enhance entry for low- and moderate-income (LMI) buyer participation within the state’s Group Photo voltaic Pilot Program.

In line with the Coalition for Group Photo voltaic Entry, the enlargement of this system will permit neighborhood photo voltaic to energy the equal of a further 6,840 Maryland properties yearly. The enlargement additionally modified improvement laws, permitting neighborhood photo voltaic tasks to be constructed on clean-fill building websites, reworking beforehand unusable industrial places into clear photo voltaic vitality era websites.

Constructing on that dedication to neighborhood photo voltaic, in 2022, the Maryland legislature handed a pair of payments focused at growing the quantity of eligible tasks, and growing the inducement for such tasks to be developed.

The primary of the 2 is HB 1039, which exempts neighborhood photo voltaic tasks from each county and municipal company property taxes, as long as the 50% of the electrical energy generated by the tasks go to serve low- to moderate-income people and households at a price which is at the very least 20% decrease than the bottom electrical energy price that these prospects could be paying in any other case.

Because it stands, 30% of the pilot program capability remains to be put aside for low-to-moderate earnings prospects wishing to take part and one other 30% is put aside for undertaking improvement on brownfield websites.

The invoice additionally establishes further tax incentives for the event of agrivoltaic neighborhood photo voltaic tasks on rooftops, brownfields, landfills, and clear fills.

The opposite invoice, HB 440, will broaden the utmost capability of a permitted neighborhood photo voltaic undertaking from 2 MW to five MW, whereas additionally decreasing the land necessities for siting tasks. This provision pertains to tasks developed on a number of, contiguous heaps, fairly than opening up new varieties of land zones for improvement.

Final time, the pv journal tour of the 50 states of photo voltaic took us to neighboring Delaware, and subsequent we are going to proceed to journey via the DMV, stopping off in Virginia.