Maryland Energy Talk

In August Governor Moore announced that his administration had entered into a Power Purchase Agreement for 300 megawatts of solar in Maryland that would save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in reduced energy bills. This procurement, done through the Department of General Services, is in addition to the Meggawatts for Maryland program that Governor Moore has rolled out through the Maryland Energy Administration which is also lowering bills through solar procurements. There is a lot of locking in low energy prices through solar going on right now. I want to get specific about what we are doing and how it is saving us money. To do that, I am joined by true Maryland hero David St. Jean who up until recently served as the Director of Energy and Sustainability at the Department of General Services. He nobly spent his career as a public servant, and has recently retired. David, thank you so much for talking with me today. 

Why are energy bills so high? What do you say when people ask you that question? It’s complicated right? Anyone with a one sentence explanation is either trying to sell you something or doesn’t fully know what they are talking about.We have talked before on Maryland Energy Talk about why bills are high, but today I’m going to try and paint a more complete picture of why Maryland energy bills are so high than anything I have yet seen on the subject. I’ll talk about the great steps that Maryland leaders have taken in recent years to turn the ship around, and what continued progress might look like in 2027.There truly is a perfect storm causing energy bills to increase so much. In my mind, broadly speaking, there are three main contributors to this phenomenon and we will go through each of them one by one.

Thanks to the Utility Relief Act of 2026 and the Next Generation Energy Act of 2026 the Public Service Commission is currently running a utility scale battery procurement that could build roughly 900 megawatts of battery storage. That is great news, and it has gotten a lot of attention, but there is another, lesser known process unfolding in Maryland with the potential to unlock gigawatts of battery capacity.This effort stems from the fact that batteries weren’t really available when the policies governing our electric grid were put in place, and as a result, our cost allocation systems don’t know how to compensate batteries for the valuable services they provide to the grid. Grid batteries are a new technology that functions very differently from anything we have had before, and now the policy has to catch up to the technology.To achieve exactly that purpose, the Maryland Energy Storage Program Workgroup of the Public Service Commission recently released their final report, the culmination of years of work bringing together all relevant stakeholders. The result is a detailed plan for how to integrate distributed batteries into the grid and rate structures in a way that recognizes the costs that are avoided thanks to batteries, such as not needed to build or upgrade a substation, and compensates batteries for the precise value of the services they provide.To talk all about this new model tariff, what it would mean for battery deployment in the state, and when it is likely to be implemented, I am joined by Ted Ko who is the Founder and Executive Director of Energy Policy Design Institute, and Hans Riemer who is a former Montgomery County Council Member and is now the Senior External Affairs Manager at Trajectory Energy Partners.

Data centers are driving up our electricity bills and increasing our air pollution. According to Monitoring Analytics, between 2025 and 2028 data center demand will increase costs on Maryland’s regional electricity grid by $23 billion That comes out to an average of $343 for every person on our grid, including children, so a family of 3 is paying over a thousand dollars more in their electricity bill over that period because of data centers. Legislative leadership in Maryland took great steps in 2026 to shield Marylanders from higher costs caused by data centers in the Utility Relief Act, but those policies are still being implemented and in the meantime we are paying those higher costs today.Given that data centers are significantly increasing electricity bills, it is no surprise that the backlash to data centers has been so intense and universal. In fact the pushback is so strong that recent months have seen a proliferation of local data center bans and moratoriums. This will come as shocking news to most listeners, but these local acts have added up to what is almost a de facto moratorium on data centers throughout the state. Already 80% of Marylanders now live in a municipality with a moratorium or ban on data centers. This happened almost overnight, where a data center moratorium went from being a fringe idea to being reality all within the past few months. This runaway grassroots momentum is likely to take Annapolis by storm in 2027, and to talk about what that would look like I am joined by Mike Tidwell who is the founder and Executive Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and a leader in data center grassroots organizing. Click Here to get a ticket for the People Over Data Centers conference on November 7th in Baltimore

You may have missed it in the Utility RELIEF Act of 2026 or in the budget, but one of the most consequential and long- lasting provisions was a significant investment in the state’s greenbank, the Maryland Clean Energy Center (MCEC). I had MCEC on Maryland Energy Talk last year, and at that time our conversation focused on how little investment MCEC gets from the state, and how much benefit could be unlocked if only a bigger portion of the state’s clean energy dollars went to the greenbank where they will be leveraged for even more dollars.Now that Maryland has invested more in MCEC than they ever have before, I’m thrilled to be talking with them again to discuss what they are doing with these funds and what programs are available for Maryland residents and businesses. My guest today is the Executive Director of the Maryland Clean Energy Center, Kathy McGruder, and the Chief Investment Officer Anmol Vanamali

Something happened on July 2nd that really turned conventional wisdom about renewables on its head. Then, on July 8th, something that I think is even more exciting happened. They were both so significant I’m making a video about them, especially because I haven’t heard anyone acknowledge this angle of what happened on July 2Specifically, on July 2nd solar power saved the PJM grid from a reliability crisis caused by coal and gas power plants. And for those who don’t know, PJM is an organization that operates the grid for 13 states from Virginia Beach to Chicago, and their Coal and gas plants endangered the reliability of our grid, and solar saved it. This is the opposite of the lies that Trump and the fossil fuel industry like to tell, but it’s what happened, so let’s dive into the facts.

As of today, July 1st, it is legal, under certain conditions, to plug solar panels directly into a wall outlet in Maryland. Plug-in solar legislation is sweeping the nation with more than 20 states considering similar policies. While the general concept is simple, put the plug-in the outlet, the exact regulations differ in each state. I hope that by the end of the episode today you will have a complete understanding of how to plug solar into an outlet in Maryland, and where you can get your very own plug-in solar kitTo that end, I am joined today by the owner of Maryland’s greatest home solar installation company, Jose Coronado-Flores, founder of Flores Photovoltaics, and a national expert on Plug-in solar policies, Cora Stryker with Bright Saver, the only organization dedicated exclusively to supporting plug-in solar.Click here to order a plug-in solar kit from Flores Photovoltaics.

In the negotiations between the House and the Senate on the Utility RELIEF Act this year, one of the major sticking points was whether to get rid of forecasted test years, as pushed for by the Speaker of the House. The compromise paused the practice for a year, asked the PSC to study the issue, but did not permanently prohibit their use.Given that it was such a flash point of disagreement between the chambers, and that this issue will be coming back in 2027, I thought it would be worth talking about forecasted test years. I am thrilled to welcome onto Maryland Energy Talk the incredible Emily Scarr who is a Senior Advisory at the Maryland Public Interest Research Group.

Delegate Adrian Boafo has served in the Maryland legislature for the past four years. In those years Delegate Boafo established himself as a champion in the climate change and clean energy space, introducing some of the boldest and most ambitious bills in the legislature including the RENEW Act and the Better Buildings Act, two of the bills nearest and dearest to my heart. Now, as Delegate Boafo is campaigning for the 5th Congressional district seat, I thought it would be a good time to sit down and discuss his record on these issues.

The tidal wave of data centers flooding onto our grid is a major reason why energy bills are going up. A recent report from Monitoring Analytics found that data centers are currently costing customers on Maryland’s regional grid over $9 billion in increased energy costs annually.If data centers were to bring their own new clean energy it would reduce or eliminate those costs that all of us are currently paying on behalf of data center developers. Data centers bringing their own clean energy would also prevent the ungodly amount of pollution they would otherwise cause, but Getting data centers to bring their own new clean energy is now easy feat. It will require smart, effective policies both at the level of the regional PJM grid and at the state level.I am very lucky to be joined by State Senator Katie Fry Hester who has been doing incredible work to protect consumers from potential increased of cost and pollution from data centers both at PJM and here in Maryland.