{"id":6105,"date":"2023-01-06T16:39:13","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T21:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/?p=6105"},"modified":"2023-01-06T16:38:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T21:38:37","slug":"maryland-energy-administration-awards-over-6m-to-schools-and-medical-facilities-through-the-energy-infrastructure-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/2023\/01\/06\/maryland-energy-administration-awards-over-6m-to-schools-and-medical-facilities-through-the-energy-infrastructure-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Energy Administration Awards Over $6M to Schools and Medical Facilities through the Energy Infrastructure Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n<p>Contact:\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:jahmai.sharp-moore@maryland.gov\">Jahmai Sharp-Moore<\/a>\u00a0| 443-694-3651<\/p>\n<p><b>Baltimore, MD\u2013 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) is pleased to announce seven grant awards under the Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) Maryland Energy Infrastructure Program (MEIP). The seven awards total $9.25 million in funding to help advance the state\u2019s goals of providing clean and affordable energy to Marylanders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This year\u2019s awards include efforts to improve the affordability and resilience of health care facilities; modernize heating and cooling while reducing operating costs for public schools; expand access and use of renewable natural gas (RNG); and expand community sustaining clean energy jobs manufacturing cutting edge solar technologies in parts of Maryland that have suffered from recent job losses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">MEIP was created as a result of the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.psc.state.md.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/Order-No.-88631-Case-No.-9449-AltaGas-WGL-Merger-Order.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Order 88631<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that merged AltaGas and Washington Gas Light (WGL) Company, and established the Maryland Gas Expansion Fund (MGEF). MEA was granted access to MGEF funds to create a program that promotes energy equity, grid resilience, economic development, and job creation. MEIP is focused on bringing natural gas energy to areas of Maryland that have been historically deprived of cleaner energy options, and the economic opportunities and environmental benefits that low cost clean fuels can provide.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe Maryland Energy Infrastructure Program has allowed Marylanders to access cleaner, reliable, and more affordable energy while helping the state reach its decarbonization goals of a 60% emissions reduction by 2031,\u201d said Dr. Mary Beth Tung, Director of MEA. \u201cI am excited to see this investment attract solar manufacturing companies to Maryland. Supporting the infrastructure needs of clean tech manufacturers will help Maryland achieve its Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and greenhouse gas reduction goals by expanding the availability of domestically made solar components.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">MEIP or MGEF is broken down into two Areas of Interest (AOI) for project funding: AOI 1, for Maryland Local Distribution Companies (LDC) and AOI 2 for Maryland Anchor customers (Anchor). Through the PSC Order, a majority of the funds awarded must be awarded to projects located in the WGL service area.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Through MEIP or MGEF, MEA has awarded a total $20.75 million to 27 Maryland state and local government entities, public schools, and businesses. As a result of the MEIP program, these organizations will be able to implement energy projects that annually displace 544,160 plus metric tons of carbon emissions, equivalent to 105,880 homes\u2019 annual electricity use and support over 725 jobs. Of the annual emissions estimated to be displaced, 510,181 metric tons of carbon emissions come from the projects awarded in FY23.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The seven FY23 awardees are highlighted below with summaries of their proposed projects.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><b>Anchor Awards<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Anne Arundel Public Schools (AACPS) &#8211; $876,947<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Anne Arundel County<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><i>SEM WaferTech \u2013 $<\/i><\/b><b><i>3,000,000<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Baltimore City<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Adventist HealthCare \u2013 $924,000\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Montgomery County<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Maryland Environmental Service \u2013 $<\/i><\/b><b><i>1,181,053<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Somerset County<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><b>LDC Awards<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, Proposal 1 \u2013 $250,225<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Somerset County<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, Proposal 2 \u2013 <\/i><\/b><b><i>$185,500<\/i><\/b><b><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Somerset County<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Washington Gas and Light Company, Proposal 2 \u2013 $2,814,275<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Prince George\u2019s County<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:\u00a0Jahmai Sharp-Moore\u00a0| 443-694-3651 Baltimore, MD\u2013 The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) is pleased to announce seven grant awards under the Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) Maryland Energy Infrastructure Program (MEIP). The seven awards total $9.25 million in funding to help advance the state\u2019s goals of providing clean and affordable<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/2023\/01\/06\/maryland-energy-administration-awards-over-6m-to-schools-and-medical-facilities-through-the-energy-infrastructure-program\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&#8230;Learn more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25,10,4,1],"tags":[5,17],"class_list":["post-6105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-press-releases","category-uncategorized","tag-energy","tag-grants"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6107,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6105\/revisions\/6107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}