maryland

  • Agilitas Energy Acquires Hydropower Assets in PJM Territory

    Renewable energy developer and project operator Agilitas Energy announced it the company has acquired two late-stage hydropower development projects from Advanced Hydro Solutions. Agilitas on June 24 said the 30-MW Tygart Hydropower Project in Grafton, West Virginia, and the 14-MW Jennings Randolph Hydropower Project in Garrett County, Maryland, represent Agilitas Energy’s first hydropower assets. It […]

  • Maryland Officials Support Gas Plants Among Cleaner Forms of Generation

    Maryland lawmakers have introduced a bill in the state legislature that sponsors say would provide an easier path to build new power plants, including natural gas-fired facilities, and lower utility bills for ratepayers as part of the process.

  • Talen, PJM Reach Agreement to Keep 2 GW of Coal, Oil Generation Online for Reliability in Maryland

    Talen Energy has reached an agreement with PJM Interconnection, the Maryland Public Service Commission, Maryland electric utilities, consumer representatives, and the Sierra Club to extend operations at its 1.3-GW coal-fired Brandon Shores power plant and 774-MW oil-fired H.A. Wagner units until May 31, 2029, under a reliability-must-run (RMR) contract. If approved by the Federal Energy […]

  • Brighter Tomorrow Act Paves Way For More Solar Investment in Maryland

    Maryland Gov. Wes Moore in May of this year signed the Brighter Tomorrow Act into law. The measure expands the solar facilities that qualify for subsidy, and improve the level of subsidy, and contains certain miscellaneous provisions applicable generally expanding access to subsidies—as well as benefits to workers and persons of low to moderate income. […]

  • Amazon Expands Renewable Portfolio With Solar Farm at Reclaimed Coal Mine

    Amazon has announced two utility-scale renewable energy projects in Maryland, with the company saying it now has invested in nearly 80 new wind and solar power installations this year. Among the new projects is a solar farm being built at the site of coal mine that operated for more than a century. That 170-MW project, […]

  • Maryland Microgrid Will Produce Hydrogen for County’s Transit Fleet

    A microgrid project in Maryland could become a model for how integrated off-grid systems generate power for commercial and industrial installations, along with producing hydrogen to fuel transportation vehicles. AlphaStruxure, a joint venture of Schneider Electric and Carlyle, on May 18 announced development of project that will feature bus charging and on-site green hydrogen production. […]

  • MEA Awards $960,000 for Public Facility Solar Projects

    Baltimore, Maryland (March 30, 2022) — The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) today 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 […]

  • ForeFront Power and TurningPoint Energy Announce the Completion of Four Community Solar Projects in Maryland, With Three More on the Way

    BALTIMORE, Feb. 17, 2021 — ForeFront Power and TurningPoint Energy today announce the completion of four Maryland-based community solar projects. The Leigh Friend Solar Project was completed this month, and three additional projects (Kingsville, Croom Road, and South Osborne Road) began delivering power to residents in late 2019. Together, these four projects created over 150 […]

  • Ørsted Offshore Wind Farms Delayed by Pandemic

    Ørsted, the Denmark-based energy company and the world’s top offshore wind developer, said at least five of its projects off the U.S. East Coast could be delayed due to impacts from the coronavirus pandemic. The company in an announcement April 29 said the projects, with total generation capacity of about 3 GW, could fall victim […]

  • EDF Will Bail on Three Nuclear Plants, Exelon Holds the Bag

    Exelon Generation said EDF Group—a French integrated electricity company—is exercising a put option to sell its 49.99% interest in the R.E. Ginna, Nine Mile Point, and Calvert Cliffs nuclear energy facilities. The two companies will now begin negotiations for Exelon to acquire full ownership of the plants. EDF’s involvement in the facilities was through the […]

  • US Wind Urges Maryland Legislators to Increase Offshore Wind Capacity and Related Economic Development and Jobs

    BALTIMORE, March 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — In testimony this week before Senate Finance Committee and House Economic Matters Committee of the Maryland General Assembly, US Wind Country Manager Salvo Vitale urged House and Senate committee members to support HB 1158 and its Senate companion, SB 516 – The Clean Jobs Act of 2019 – citing […]

  • Courts Back State Flexibility on Choice of Generation

    Power regulation in the U.S. is split between the federal and state levels, with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) having jurisdiction over the wholesale sales of electricity and the states

  • Maryland Backs Merger of Two Natural Gas Utilities

    Baltimore, Maryland (Dec. 4, 2017) – Governor Larry Hogan today announced that the State of Maryland, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, and Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), have reached a $161.1 million settlement agreement in the proposed merger of Washington Gas and Light’s parent company, WGL Holdings with AltaGas, Ltd. This settlement requires final […]

  • Eastern States Expand Emission Cuts as Part of Cap-and-Trade

    Nine states in New England and the Mid-Atlantic region have said they will cut emissions from power plants by 65% below 2020 levels by 2030, expanding a cap-and-trade program designed to reduce carbon output usually associated with power plants. States in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) agreed to increase emissions cuts by an additional […]

  • Maryland Passes Energy Storage Tax Credit

    Maryland on April 10 became the first state in the nation to pass legislation enacting a tax credit for residential and commercial energy storage installations. The measure passed unanimously in the state Senate, and with a 101–11 vote in the House. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is expected to sign SB 758 into law. The bill […]

  • Competitive Power Ventures, Marubeni Corporation, Toyota Tsusho & Osaka Gas USA Achieve Commercial Operation at 725 MW CPV St. Charles Energy Center Maryland

      -Southern MD Private Energy Project Completed Ahead of Schedule Now Supplying Efficient, Reliable Power on PJM Grid- SILVER SPRING, Md., March 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Maryland-based Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) today announced that the 725-megawatt (MW) CPV St. Charles Energy Center in Waldorf, Charles County, Maryland achieved commercial operation. The milestone comes after 30 […]

  • BGE Crews and Contractors Aiding in Power Restoration Efforts for Delmarva Power Customers

    Following BGE’s completion of clean-up from winter storm Stella in Maryland, the company sent a contingent of electric crews to North East, Md, and to New Castle, Del., this morning to aid BGE’s Exelon sister utility Delmarva Power.  80 employees and contractors departed to help restore electric service to customers still impacted by winter storm […]

  • NRG Penalized for Faulty Wastewater Treatment at Maryland Coal Plants

    NRG Energy will pay $1 million in penalties, install environmental projects worth another $1 million, and complete costly upgrades under a consent decree it entered into with the state of Maryland to resolve wastewater discharge violations at two coal-fired power plants owned by its subsidiary GenOn. The settlement results from a June 2013 complaint Maryland […]

  • The Perils of Second-Guessing FERC

    It’s axiomatic that state governments believe they can manage their own affairs better than the federal government. But our system reserves certain bailiwicks for federal oversight, and one of those is the

  • Maryland to Mandate Emergency NOx Reductions at Coal Plants

    An emergency action proposed by Maryland regulators on Friday will require 14 coal-fired units in the state to minimize nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions every day during the 2015 summer ozone season, starting as soon as May 1.  The rule submitted on April 17 by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to the Joint Committee […]

  • Experts: EPA Clean Power Plan’s Legal Uncertainty May Have Lasting Impact

    The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan will certainly be challenged in court, but states and power companies must expend enormous resources developing and complying with state plans regardless of the outcome, witnesses testified on March 17 at a House hearing on the proposal’s legal and cost issues.  The three-hour-long hearing at the House […]

  • Six States Sound Off on EPA’s Clean Power Rule

    Regulators from six states shared starkly different views on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed carbon rules for existing power plants at a House hearing on Tuesday. Some state-level officials said the EPA’s overall emission targets and suggested means to achieve them are based on unworkable and unrealistic assumptions about how state and regional power […]

  • NRG to Deactivate Five Md. Coal Units On State Environmental Rule Concerns

    NRG Energy could deactivate five units at two coal-fired power plants in Maryland because new regulations proposed by the state to curb emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) will require pollution controls that cannot be economically justified, the New Jersey–based company said.  NRG last week notified regional grid operator PJM Interconnection that […]

  • Federal Court Blocks Maryland Order to Build New CCPP

    A federal court on Sept. 30 shot down Maryland’s drive to spur construction of a new combined cycle power plant outside of PJM’s capacity auctions. Ruling in favor of various entities that had sued to block the plan, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland found that the state’s order last year for […]