State Leadership in Solar+Storage, Featuring Maryland and Oregon

Solar+storage programs provide a multitude of customer benefits, from cost savings to energy resilience. This webinar highlighted two well-designed and impactful programs that are supporting the development of solar+storage projects in their state.

The Maryland Energy Administration’s Resilient Maryland / Resiliency Hubs Grant Program are helping local organizations develop resilient energy system projects that bolster their operations, protect communities, enhance sustainability, and achieve energy affordability. Resilient Maryland provides funds to local organizations to help pay for feasibility analyses, preliminary modeling, and other important preconstruction activities in the development of microgrids, resilient facility power systems, and resiliency hubs for Maryland communities, businesses, and critical infrastructure. The Resiliency Hub Program provides capital funds for the installation of solar PV and battery storage systems that enable them to become “resiliency hubs,” which are sited in local, community-serving locations where residents can access electricity during grid outages to power their essential electrical devices, to refrigerate temperature-sensitive items, and to shelter in safety.

The Oregon Department of Energy’s Solar+Storage Rebate Program offers rebates to residential customers and low-income service providers that install solar or solar paired with battery storage systems. At least 25 percent of rebate funds each year are reserved for low- or moderate-income residential customers and low-income service providers, with higher rebate amounts available to these groups. ODOE collaborated with Oregon Housing and Community Services, the solar industry, and other energy partners to develop a streamlined, stackable, and cost-effective process to determine income eligibility for program participants and maximize incentives for project cost savings. The 352 completed projects that received a rebate in the first round of funding represent solar electric generation that is estimated to displace 2,193 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

In this webinar, representatives from the Maryland Energy Administration and the Oregon Department of Energy presented their programs and answered questions from the audience. CESA’s Todd Olinsky-Paul moderated.

These programs were recipients of the 2022 State Leadership in Clean Energy Awards.