State energy policy was supposed to be a top priority for the Maryland General Assembly’s 2025 session, but it appears to be taking a backseat to more pressing fiscal matters.  

With lawmakers in Annapolis mostly focused on producing a budget that can fill the state’s projected $3 billion deficit, many energy bills appear stalled in advance of “crossover day” on March 17, when bills introduced in one house must be approved in that chamber and cross over to the other.  

Dozens of energy bills have been introduced in both houses, but few have taken the first step of being approved by their appropriate committees, let alone moved to a floor vote. 

The budget is taking up a lot of time and “mental space,” said Kim Coble, executive director of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters. But the bigger issue is the complexity of the energy issues addressed by the bills state delegates and senators are now considering. 

“There’s a lot of need to educate members and to bring them along, and the number of bills and topics that are trying to be addressed [is] major,” Coble said. “They are getting lots of phone calls from constituents about their electricity bills; they’re getting lots of calls about clean energy and trying to balance it all.  

“So, I am trying to stay optimistic,” she said. “The fact that things haven’t moved yet is not a delay tactic. It’s because it is a tough, complicated topic that they want to get right.” 

Both Coble and Katie Mettle, policy principal for Maryland at Advanced Energy United, also note that any bills not crossing over by March 17 can still move forward in the legislature via a special vote in the Rules Committee in either house. 

“I think they honestly just are not sweating the crossover deadline for their top, most important bills, because they know they can take longer if they want to,” Mettle said. “They just want to make sure that everything is to their liking. … There [are] still negotiations going on.” 

Coble pointed to the Abundant, Affordable Clean Energy (AACE) Act (HB 398, SB 316), sponsored by Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D) and Sen. Benjamin Brooks (D). The bill’s multiple provisions include a mandate for the Maryland Public Service Commission to open two rounds of applications each for 150 MW of distribution-tied energy storage and 1,600 MW of front-of-the-meter, transmission-tied storage, as well as incentives for 3,000 MW each of utility- and small-scale solar projects.  

The bill also seeks to support the state’s existing nuclear plants via license extensions and zero-emission credits, and calls for coordinated planning for transmission to bring offshore wind energy to the homes and business that need it. It requires prevailing wage standards for workers employed on energy storage projects. 

The goal, Charkoudian said is “to ensure resource adequacy, with protecting ratepayers and with clean energy.” 

As of March 13, the bill was still sitting in committees in both houses, but both Coble and Charkoudian said negotiations are underway to incorporate parts of AACE into another major bill, the Next Generation Energy Act, which is one of three major energy bills being supported by House and Senate leadership. 

The Leadership Package

Referred to as “the leadership package,” the three bills include: 

• • The Energy Resource Adequacy and Planning Act (SB 909), which would require the PSC to establish an Integrated Resource Planning Office, which would conduct a 25-year comprehensive energy forecast aimed at meeting state clean energy and emission reduction goals, while ensuring reliability and affordability. 

• • The Renewable Energy Certainty Act (SB 931), which would set rigorous standards for solar and storage projects seeking a certificate of public necessity and convenience from the PSC, to ensure careful siting and community engagement. The bill also would prohibit city or county governments from passing zoning or other laws blocking solar and storage projects. 

• • The Next Generation Energy Act (SB 937), which would promote the development of nuclear energy, and the extension of the licenses of existing reactors, as a matter of state policy, while also encouraging regional collaboration between states to share costs on the development of new reactors. The bill also calls for the procurement of 3,100 MW of “dispatchable energy generation capacity” and a temporary expedited permitting process for these projects. 

Advocates like Mettle have raised red flags about those 3,100 MW of dispatchable generation, which she presumes would be natural gas. “The thing about gas [is] we just don’t need it,” she said. “I just don’t think from a technological standpoint or an economic standpoint that it’s remotely necessary.” 

Mettle would first like to see PJM clear the solar and storage projects sitting in its interconnection queue and then ensure the state is ready to support projects as they are approved for interconnection. She supports SB 931 and the AACE Act as ways to “turbocharge” the solar and storage industry.  

Both Charkoudian and Coble are concerned that any expedited permitting will strip out requirements for community engagement and attention to environmental justice issues. 

Charkoudian is working on amendments that will incorporate parts of AACE into SB 937. “So, I think what you’re going to see, when they kind of come out or start going through the process in committee, is just a lot of amendments to add, to improve, take the best ideas and move them on,” she said. “I think it’s possible that that won’t happen before crossover.” 

Crossovers So Far

The Maryland Clean Energy Center tracks energy and climate bills in the General Assembly and issues weekly reports. As of March 13, the following bills have crossed over: 

• • SB 37, another Charkoudian bill, would require utilities to report to the PSC on their votes at all PJM stakeholder and other meetings. Its House counterpart, HB 121, is still in committee. 

• • HB 270 calls for a state-level data center impact analysis report to be developed by the Department of the Environment, the Maryland Energy Administration and the University of Maryland School of Business, and to be submitted to the governor and General Assembly by Sept. 1, 2026. 

• • SB 120 and HB 4, approved in both houses, prohibits community or condo associations from putting restrictions on solar installations that would increase the cost of the projects by 5% or reduce their electrical output by 10%. 

• • HB 61 would require the design for any new school construction or major renovation to evaluate installing solar parking canopies.  

• • SB 399 would allow transmission lines to be run through certain state-designated “wildlands.”  

Maryland LCV is opposing the bill, which Coble said is tailored to the Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link, which is being developed by NextEra Energy. Wildlands are particularly pristine areas and account for less than 1% of the state’s land, she said. 

“This would be the first time the state of Maryland has ever opened up wildlands from new transmission lines. So that, in and of itself, is bad,” she said. “These wildlands are pretty special lands, and they do need and deserve extra consideration.”