The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) today (March 30) announced 16 projects were awarded a total of $960,578 for the Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) Public Facility Solar Grant Program. Funding for these projects supports the installation of solar arrays on existing infrastructure, such as parking lots or rooftops, for public institutions.
The solar arrays will provide local generation of electricity, reducing the loss of electricity during the transmission process and unloading the electrical grid during days of peak demand. Additional program goals are to focus on increasing the use of clean, renewable energy by state and local agencies.
"Solar arrays on public institutions like our state parks and public buildings demonstrate our support for the development of clean and renewable energy," said Dr. Mary Beth Tung, MEA Director. "This will provide considerable cost savings over the life of the systems and help the state meet its ambitious climate and renewable energy goals."
Recent program recipients have been local governments with this year highlighting an ongoing effort between MEA and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to improve the sustainability of Maryland State Parks by deploying solar across over 15 sites located in five parks, including Assateague State Park, Sandy Point State Park, Deep Creek Lake State Park, Fair Hill Natural Resource Management Area and Merkle Wildlife Management Area.
This program is closely associated with MEA's Solar Technical Assistance Program to help state and local governments increase the amount of solar energy generating equipment on public infrastructure. MEA provided the Maryland State Parks team access to this program to determine the best locations for solar in their portfolio of facilities. MEA partners with the Maryland Environmental Service to provide these assessments, at no cost to the participating public entity, as a tool to help identify the most viable roofs, parking lots and other already developed spaces for placing solar photovoltaic systems.
The installation process may occur through the direct purchase and installation of solar modules by the public entity, or through a Power Purchase Agreement with a third party for installation of a solar array on a public facility and incorporated into the facility's existing infrastructure. Grant assistance was made available in two distinct Areas of Interest (AOI): funds for purchased systems (AOI 1), and funds for third party-owned systems (AOI 2).
Click here to learn more about the Public Facility Solar Grant Program. Click here to learn more about the Solar Technical Assistance Program.
Click here for a listing of projects receiving Public Facility Solar Grant awards in FY22.
