Dive Brief:
- Gov. Wes Moore, D-Md., signed three bills on Thursday supporting distributed energy resources, virtual power plants and home electrification in Maryland.
- The DRIVE Act, Brighter Tomorrow Act and an update to the emPOWER Act known as Energy Efficiency and Conservation Plans require utilities to support VPPs and bidirectional EV charging, reduce barriers for residential solar installations and rework an existing home efficiency program to prioritize meaningful greenhouse gas reductions.
- The three new laws make Maryland “a leading state” in promoting consumer-friendly energy system reforms, said Thad Culley, director of public policy for Sunrun.
Dive Insight:
Maryland’s flurry of clean energy legislation comes a year after the state set an ambitious energy storage target of 3 GW by the end of 2033. Two of that law’s sponsors — Delegates David Fraser–Hidalgo, D, and Lily Qi, D — also sponsored pieces of this year’s legislative package.
The three laws passed this year will leverage the Maryland Public Service Commission’s regulatory authority to promote VPPs and DERs in a way that broadly benefits Maryland residents and businesses, Culley said. The hope is that the state sets an example for others to follow, touching off pro-VPP policy “contagion,” he added.
The emPOWER Act update modernizes an energy efficiency framework dating back to 2008. The update shifts the law’s emphasis from energy conservation toward greenhouse gas reduction, Culley said, reflecting Maryland’s recent commitment to a 60% reduction in planet-warming emissions by 2030.
Specifically, the updated emPOWER Act sets yearly pollution-reduction goals “to properly prioritize clean, efficient electrical home heating over gas heat,” adds new home electrification incentives, creates new ratepayer protections and expands incentives for low-income residents, according to a summary by Maryland PIRG.
The law requires at least 80% of greenhouse gas reductions to come from behind-the-meter programs, Culley noted. A late adjustment to the law “specifically calling out batteries…is a powerful signal” that distributed energy storage resources can help reduce peak loads on Maryland’s grid, he said.
The Brighter Tomorrow Act aims to spur residential and commercial solar adoption to get Maryland back on track to meeting its legislatively mandated solar generation goal, or carve-out, of 14.5% of overall electricity generation sales in the state by 2028.
A key feature of the law is a “multiplier” for solar renewable energy credits to compensate owners of distributed solar generation systems. Another is an anticipated $15 million to $20 million in annual grant funding for low- and middle-income household solar installations, up to $7,500 per system, Culley said.
“[The grants] should have a material impact on the expansion of solar in that segment,” he said.
The Brighter Tomorrow Act also requires local jurisdictions in Maryland to adopt the automated SolarAPP+ permitting platform developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or an equivalent tool, for new solar installations by next summer.
The change is likely to accelerate permitting processes across the state, Maryland PIRG Director Emily Scarr said in a statement.
“SolarAPP+ allows jurisdictions to review residential solar permits quickly and efficiently, allowing homeowners to switch to clean energy cheaper and faster,” Scarr said.
Finally, the DRIVE Act asks Maryland utilities to submit plans for bidirectional EV charging and VPP networks to the Maryland PSC by next year. It gives utilities until 2028 to implement time-of-use electricity tariffs that incentivize off-peak power consumption.
The DRIVE Act “puts customers at the center” of the energy transition while showing utilities the potential benefits of VPPs, Culley said.
It’s a “forward-looking and holistic approach” that shows “you don’t have to make a choice between ‘electrify everything’ and [supporting] local energy resources,” he said.
