Maryland Energy Talk

In December of 2025 a final switch was flipped and 160 megawatts of electricity started flowing onto Maryland’s grid from the biggest solar farm in the entire state, the Backbone power project in Garrett County. To give you a sense of how big 160 megawatts is, this project will produce more electricity than all the homes in Garrett County combined use in a year. When Backbone Power came online, it single handedly increased the total amount of solar power installed in Maryland by over 5%.
The project would be newsworthy just because of its size, but on top of that it also happens to be located on an old coal mine and is now providing local and state tax revenue that was lost when that coal mine closed.
This project is a great example of the tremendous benefits we get out of investing in the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard in terms of jobs, tax revenue, and instate generation, but to me it also feels like a symbol of possibility, proof in miniature that transitioning to the clean economy is possible and beneficial. To talk all about this project, the Maryland energy policies that made it possible, and what lawmakers can do to make sure more projects like this one keep coming online, I am joined by Mike Resca, the executive Vice-President of CPV Renewables, the company that developed the backbone solar project.

Among the many changes made by Speaker Pena-Melnyk is moving energy issues from the Economic Matters Committee to the Environment and Transportation Committee. This is a change represents a shift in how energy issues are contextualized, from primarily being a matter of economic development, to being about the environment.
This move sends the hot potato of energy issues to Chair Korman, who is my guest today to talk all about how he sees energy issues and what is thinking is at the start of the 2026 legislative session.

Chair Korman and Subcommittee Chairman Fraser-Hidalgo also organized a series of briefings on energy issues for their committee. The briefings are terrific and I have linked them below:

Briefing with representatives from the Texas and California grids:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TmrH9_gTT4
Briefing with PJM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGgmp90GXTk
Briefing with clean energy industry and climate advocates:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeQTOdRrkwY
Briefing with the Maryland Department of the Environment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq5DG5aol_0
Briefing with utilities and Constellation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VVmGE_QV-E
Briefing with the Maryland Energy Administration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWUMUyIJpX0
Briefing with the Public Service Commission and the Office of the People’s Counsel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWNtXARBAk8

Building new transmission is extremely costly and highly controversial but at the same time we know that more transmission will be needed on our electric grid as energy demand continues to grow. Is it possible for us to ensure the grid is capable of moving energy where it needs to go without breaking the bank or seizing property through eminent domain? 
The SAVINGS Act, introduced by Delegate Qi and Senator Hester, would deploy grid enhancing technologies that will allow us to get more transmission capability without building new transmission lines. To talk all about this bill, why it is necessary and how it works, I am joined by Katie Mettle who is the Policy Principal for Maryland and New Jersey at Advanced Energy United

In his executive order on climate and energy issues in June of 2024 Governor Moore directed his agencies to design and implement a Zero-Emission Heating Equipment Standard and a Clean Heat Standard to support it. As far as policies to reduce pollution and costs for homeowners go, this is the gold standard, and I applaud Governor Moore for his leadership on this issue.
A Zero-Emission Heating Equipment Standard paired with a Clean Heat Standard has the potential to fully decarbonize almost all of Maryland’s building stock and lower energy bills in the process.
In this episode I am joined by Ruth Ann Norton who is the President of Green and Healthy Homes Initiative and Tony Sirna who is the Senior Policy Lead on Buildings for Evergreen Action to explain these policies and their benefits in detail.

Maryland has had policies to boost in-state solar generation for about two decades now, and those investments have paid off significantly. Solar accounts for 7% of the electricity Maryland generates, which is more than we generate from coal. Pennsylvania, which has practically no solar investment policy, gets only 1.25%  of their electricity from solar. Even though Pennsylvania has twice the population of Maryland and is roughly four times the size of Maryland, we still have more solar jobs in Maryland than they do in Pennsylvania
Maryland’s investments in solar are paying major dividends in the form of more in-state generation, more jobs, and lower energy costs. Solar is, of course, now the cheapest form of electricity generation and continuing to deploy it at a rapid clip is essential to meeting growing energy demand. 
Vice-Chair Charkoudian has developed a policy that will improve how Maryland invests in solar energy, allowing more solar to be built more quickly while also reducing the ratepayer impact of clean energy policies. She has, in her policy wizardry, found a way to make every dollar spent on solar go farther, to increase the number of dollars spent on solar, and simultaneously decrease the number of dollars spent on renewable energy, and by the end of this episode by god you will understand how it works. 
The solar policy that Vice-Chair Charkoudian is introducing this year and that we will be discussing today is largely the same as the solar components of her Abundant Affordable Clean Energy bill she introduced last year. While many portions of her bill got incorporated into the leadership energy package, the solar policies were left on the cutting room floor, and so she is back to finish the job.

Vice-Chair Charkoudian and I recorded this episode before the news broke that she had been named Vice-Chair of the Economic Matters Committee, so I don't use her new title in the episode.