Hailed as landmark laws, SB 783 offers municipalities the facility to expedite allowing, elevate the online metering cap, help fee in lieu of tax packages and extra.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed the Brighter Tomorrow Act (SB 783) into regulation, making photo voltaic accessible to everybody, no matter earnings.
What the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is looking “landmark laws” is anticipated to convey the state nearer to photo voltaic vitality targets whereas additionally increasing photo voltaic entry to low- and moderate-income Marylanders. A yr in the past the governor of Maryland introduced that the state has set a purpose of 100% clear vitality by 2035.
“The Brighter Tomorrow Act is without doubt one of the most essential items of unpolluted vitality laws handed in Maryland. The new regulation will vastly enhance photo voltaic deployment by decreasing set up and manufacturing prices rooftop photo voltaic accessible for Marylanders of all incomes,” mentioned Leah Meredith, mid-Atlantic senior supervisor for SEIA. “Empowering localities to undertake automated photo voltaic allowing would additionally go a great distance in saving native authorities cash and assets that may very well be used for different essential public providers.
Maryland has lengthy been a solar-friendly state with each supportive and forward-looking insurance policies. For instance, final yr the state handed a brand new group photo voltaic program that permits tasks to exceed sure measurement limits if they’re constructed on sure web site sorts, resembling rooftops. , brownfield, or industrial areas. It’s no shock that the state has made nice strides in photo voltaic capability, leaping from a rating of 30th in 2023, in keeping with SEIA, to 19th by 2024. The state at present has 2 GW of photo voltaic put in and will get over 6% of its electrical energy from photo voltaic.
One approach to transfer the needle on photo voltaic vitality adoption within the state is to facilitate sooner photo voltaic allowing, and the Brighter Tomorrow Act empowers municipalities to expedite allowing by SolarApp+.
SolarApp+ was launched in 2021 by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and the Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO). The free web-based platform was created for the aim of decreasing prices and timeframes associated to photo voltaic approvals, and is claimed to chop about 12 days from the approval course of.
The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) obtained $4.48 million from the Department of Energy (DOE) to help the adoption of SolarAPP+. Municipalities may also use SolarAPP+ to allow different types of clear vitality together with residence battery storage techniques.
The Brighter Tomorrow Act additionally helps a fee in lieu of taxes (PILOT) construction for ground-mounted photo voltaic installations, raises the cap on web metering and implements a photo voltaic renewable vitality credit score (SREC) multiplier as a bridge to long-term reforms.
“This achievement is a direct results of Maryland’s statewide taskforce to review photo voltaic incentives, and it’ll play a essential position in accelerating the state’s transition to wash vitality and strengthening the electrical grid. for our communities,” Meredith mentioned. “The photo voltaic and storage trade vastly appreciates the partnership from Governor Moore, state legislators, environmental advocates, and group organizations for delivering this win for Maryland’s economic system and setting.”
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