Community solar projects in Maryland could get bigger and get a break in property taxes, thanks to two bills approved by the state’s General Assembly during the final days of its 2022 session, which ended on Monday.

House Bill 440 would raise the maximum size of community solar projects eligible for virtual net metering from 2 MW to 5 MW. Under House Bill 76, community solar projects of up to 2 MW will be eligible for a property tax exemption, provided that half of the electricity from the project goes to low- or moderate-income customers and costs them at least 20% less than the energy charges of their local utility.

A third bill, SB 860, also sets up a property tax exemption for community solar projects used in “agrivoltaics,” which is defined as “the simultaneous use of land for both solar power generation and agriculture.” The bill would also require school districts planning new schools between 2024 and 2033 to consider adding solar to the projects and to provide a report to the state if they decide against it.

These three bills were among the more than 20 energy- and climate-related pieces of legislation that the General Assembly passed before its final adjournment on Monday, sending them to Gov. Larry Hogan (R), according to the Maryland Clean Energy Center (MCEC).

Two additional climate bills, SB 528 (the Climate Solutions Now Act) and HB 740, became law on Friday without Hogan’s signature. (See Md. Climate Bills Become Law Without Hogan’s Signature.)

In a Tuesday email, MCEC provided a rundown of the 90-day session, noting that it had tracked 79 bills, a figure that included 42 cross-files: similar bills filed separately in the House of Delegates and the Senate.

For example, SB 61, and its cross-file HB 10, both would require the Maryland Transit Administration to provide its operations and maintenance workforce with the training needed to safely operate and maintain the electric buses it will be adding to its fleet. According to both bills, beginning in 2023, any new buses the MTA buys for the state fleet will have to be zero-emission vehicles.

Both bills passed in the final six days of the legislative session, which means the General Assembly now has 20 days to get the bills to the governor’s desk. Hogan will then have 30 days, not including Sundays, to sign or veto them, or allow them to become law without his signature.

Hogan signed 79 bills into law on Tuesday, but none of the bills tracked by the MCEC were included.

Administrative Fixes

For clean energy advocates, SB 528 was the most closely watched bill this session. Sponsored by Sen. Paul Pinsky (D), the bill survived substantial amendments in the House but maintained its topline provision: raising Maryland’s target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 40% to 60% over 2006 levels by 2031 and setting the state on a path to net-zero emissions by 2045.

HB 740 requires the state’s retirement system to incorporate climate risk into its evaluations of investments.

Some of the other bills passed were largely administrative. For example, SB 257 changes the date on which the Public Service Commission must submit a yearly report on solar net metering to the General Assembly from Sept. 1 to Nov. 1. It also rolls back a requirement for the PSC to report to the legislature on its efforts to educate the public on the state’s competitive retail power market.

Similarly, SB 215 would extend the sunset date for the state’s tax credit for residential and commercial energy storage installations from Dec. 31, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2024. Following the sunset of the tax credit, the bill would establish an energy storage grant fund to reimburse residential or commercial owners up to 30% of the cost of their storage systems, with a cap of $5,000 for residential systems and $150,000 for commercial systems.

SB 179 would allow state agencies to enter into energy-efficiency performance contracts for terms of 30 years, doubling the current 15-year maximum length. These contracts ensure a specific level of savings from the energy-efficiency measures they provide, or the vendor must pay the difference to the state.

New Programs and Initiatives

Other bills would create new programs and initiatives, such as the Resiliency Hub Grant Program in SB 256. The program would provide funding for communities to develop “resiliency hubs”: microgrids powered by solar and battery storage that would provide electricity for critical services, such as emergency heating and cooling and storing medicines that need refrigeration, during power outages lasting more than four hours. The program is intended to serve low- and moderate-income communities.

SB 526 would require the PSC to determine what level of offshore wind renewable energy credits (ORECs) electric distribution companies will need to acquire to comply with the state’s renewable portfolio standard. The bill would also allows distribution companies to recover their OREC costs from customers.

And HB 1391, the Clean Cars Act of 2022, would set up a fund to help offset the cost to local governments of purchasing medium- or heavy-duty ZEVs. For the years 2024 to 2027, the bill would require the state to allocate $1 million/year for grants for medium-duty vehicles and $750,000/year for heavy-duty vehicles.

A Youngkin Veto and Suggested Amendment

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday vetoed 25 bills, including SB 347, which would have required Dominion Energy (NYSE:D), the state’s largest investor-owned utility, to ensure its energy-efficiency and demand response programs were benefiting low-income households, the elderly and disabled, and military veterans. The bill also called on the utility to cut the energy use of these customers by 1% annually.

Youngkin’s reason for the veto, as delivered to the General Assembly, was that bill stated that such program requirements were in the public interest, which would “unnecessarily restrict the constitutional authority” of the State Corporation Commission.

“Although this legislation has the commendable goal of promoting energy efficiency, the requirements included in this legislation could, through an arbitrary declaration of the public interest, increase energy costs on Virginians,” Youngkin said.

Another bill, HB 450, was among the 100 that Youngkin sent back to the legislature with recommended amendments. The original bill would have made it illegal for drivers of cars with internal combustion engines to park in spaces reserved for charging electric vehicles, with fines of up to $50 for infractions. Youngkin suggested knocking down the penalty to $25.

Similar bills in Maryland, SB 146 and HB 157, do not specify an amount for the fines for such infractions. Both passed and are on their way to Hogan.