Maryland Solar EV Charging Grants Awarded

The Maryland Energy Administration announced the recipients of their Solar Canopy with Electric Vehicle Charger Program grants for Fiscal Year 2018.

The MEA parking lot PV/EV program took applications from businesses, non-profits, state agencies and local governments for funding of up to $200,000 per project. To be eligible for the grant, plans must include at least 75 kW of solar PV panels mounted to a canopy structure over a parking lot and at least four Level 2 charging stations or DC Fast Chargers. The solar canopies must also be located on parking lots that are in use at least five days per week.

Solar Canopy with 20 Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Nine grants are being awarded in the MEA parking lot PV/EV Program. One of the recipients, McCormick and Company will install a 744-kilowatt solar canopy at their new headquarters in Baltimore. The McCormick project plans to include 20 EV charging stations, which is the greatest number of EV charging stations for an individual MEA grant supported solar canopy in the history of the program.

Mary Beth Tung, Director of the Maryland Energy Administration said, “This program was carefully crafted to combine clean energy generation, and expand EV charging options for drivers.” The 2018 grantees have the potential to supply 6,000 kilowatts of renewable solar power, and add 60 new EV charging stations to Maryland’s charging infrastructure.

The MEA solar canopy grant program began in 2014 and has helped to fund 25 projects to date. Funding for the grants will come from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund, which was created from public auctions of carbon credits through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

The Grant Agreement Execution Deadline is January 5, 2018. All projects must be completed and operating by November 16, 2018. One of the awardees was Charles County which had submitted plans for Solar City/Tesla Energy to build a 1,741 kW solar canopy and four EV charging stations at the Charles County Administration Building in La Plata, MD.

At the December 12, 2017 meeting of the Charles County Board of Commissioners, Commissioner’s President Peter F. Murphy announced that the County had been awarded an MEA grant of up to $200,000 for the La Plata project but reportedly added, “Unfortunately we won’t be able to take advantage, at this point anyway, of this grant.” This is because the solar project has recently become embroiled in a permit dispute with the town of La Plata.

The following nine projects were awarded grants for FY 2018:

• Ashton Heights Apartments in Prince George’s Co.
• Atapco Baltimore I, LLC in Baltimore City
• Charles County Administration Building in La Plata, MD
• Community Baptist Church in Prince George’s Co.
• Fitzgerald Auto Mall in Gaithersburg, MD
• Frederick Memorial Hospital
• Home2 Suites in Silver Spring with 10 charging stations
• McCormick and Company in Baltimore with 20 stations
• The SEED School of Maryland in Baltimore County

For more information on the program visit the MEA PV/EV page.

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