FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n
Contact:\u00a0Tim Zink<\/a>\u00a0| 443-758-7344<\/p>\n Grants aim to make clean, renewable energy up to 20 percent more affordable for Marylanders experiencing low to moderate income<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n BALTIMORE \u2013 <\/span>The <\/span>Maryland Energy Administration<\/span><\/a> today announced a fresh round of grant funding to expand Marylanders\u2019 access to community solar, which will reduce residents\u2019 energy bills and expand Maryland\u2019s clean energy production.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis new round of community solar funding underscores our commitment to making Maryland more affordable by enabling all Marylanders, regardless of socioeconomic status, to plug into clean and affordable energy options,\u201d <\/span>said Maryland Energy Administration Director Paul G. Pinsky. <\/span><\/strong>\u201cCommunity solar allows Marylanders who can\u2019t put solar on their homes to source cheaper, cleaner energy from solar installations around the state. It\u2019s a key part of our clean energy future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Marylanders can subscribe to a community solar system and receive the same benefits of clean, affordable energy as a homeowner with a solar system on their home or property. Community solar expands the benefits of solar energy to households and communities that have traditionally been unable to install solar systems due to high cost barriers, having a property without ideal conditions to site solar, and not owning the property where they reside.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Those receiving incentives from the <\/span>Community Solar LMI-PPA Grant Program<\/span><\/a> use the funds to help offset the costs of providing low-cost community solar subscriptions to Maryland\u2019s overburdened, underserved and low-to-moderate income communities through power purchase agreements. These agreements can deliver energy savings of up to 20 percent for low-income ratepayers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The program received a historic response to its FY23 offering, ultimately incentivizing 60 community solar projects at a combined total solar capacity of 69 megawatts, which produced 90,685 megawatt-hours of clean energy in the first year. The program provided more than 43,000 megawatt-hours to low and moderate income households.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The program is expected to be highly competitive again this year. The agency is presently accepting applications for the Community Solar LMI-PPA Grant Program through <\/span>3:00 p.m. ET, Thursday, February 29, 2024<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Community solar has been available in Maryland since 2015, with the establishment of the Community Solar Pilot Program. The Maryland General Assembly passed <\/span>H.B. 908<\/span><\/a> in its 2023 legislative session. This measure directs a permanent community solar program to be made available in January 2025. This timely and important legislation expands the state\u2019s community solar potential and continues to guarantee community solar capacity for Maryland\u2019s overburdened, underserved, and low-to-moderate income communities. For more information, visit the Maryland Public Service Commission\u2019s <\/span>Community Solar page<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n For more information about the Maryland Energy Administration Community Solar LMI-PPA Grant Program, visit the <\/span>program webpage<\/span><\/a>, where you can find information on terms, conditions, requirements, and how to submit a strong proposal. For questions, contact Senior Clean Energy Program Manager David Comis at <\/span>Solar.MEA@Maryland.gov<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The mission of the Maryland Energy Administration is to promote clean, affordable, reliable energy and energy-related greenhouse gas emission reductions to benefit Marylanders in a just and equitable manner. For more information about the agency, visit us on our website at <\/span><\/em>Energy.Maryland.gov<\/span><\/em><\/a>, and follow us on social media: <\/span><\/em>LinkedIn<\/span><\/em><\/a> | <\/span><\/em>X<\/span><\/em><\/a> | <\/span><\/em>Facebook<\/span><\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n -###-<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:\u00a0Tim Zink\u00a0| 443-758-7344 Grants aim to make clean, renewable energy up to 20 percent more affordable for Marylanders experiencing low to moderate income BALTIMORE \u2013 The Maryland Energy Administration today announced a fresh round of grant funding to expand Marylanders\u2019 access to community solar, which will reduce …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,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25,10,4],"tags":[90,21,89],"class_list":["post-6194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-press-releases","tag-community-solar","tag-solar","tag-solar-energy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6194","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=6194"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6195,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6194\/revisions\/6195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}