Maryland Energy Talk

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 PennsylvaniaMaryland’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.

On December 17th 2025 something happened at PJM that has never happened before. At their regularly scheduled Capacity Auction, PJM did not hit capacity. If you are like me, it’s clear to you that this is bad news, but you aren’t precisely sure what that means. To break it down and share his expertise I spoke with Bryan Dunning who is Senior Policy Analyst with Center for Progressive Reform.

Many of the buildings that make up the Baltimore Skyline are heated by an underground network of steam moved through pipes. That district heating system is owned and operated by a company called Vicinity. Right now, that steam is almost entirely generated through combustion. However, Vicinity has high hopes for transitioning to electric steam, which is a very cool name for steam generated through electricity. This has the potential to decarbonize the heating load of many large buildings without those building owners having to change anything about their buildings.Samay Kindra who leads government affairs for Vicinity Energy talks about Vicnity’s plans to generate their steam electrically.

Whether you care about energy costs, climate change, job creation or grid reliability there is one program in Maryland that has been more successful than any other, and that is the EmPOWER Program the state’s flagship energy efficiency program. According to recent analysis, Every dollar invested in EmPOWER Maryland returns $1.81 in benefits for Marylanders. By reducing aggregate consumer demand for power, EmPOWER investments keep electric rates down for all of us. As a result, EmPOWER has saved Marylanders more than $4 billion on their energy bills and reduced statewide greenhouse gas emissions by at least 9.6 million metric tons.EmPOWER is the silent workhouse of decarbonization in Maryland, consistently slashing energy bills and emissions in both the power and residential sectors year after year, one attic insulation job at a time. To talk about EmPOWER, how it works its miracles, how it has changed over time, and what benefits we can continue to expect from the program I am joined by Mike Specian who is a Research Manager at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy or ACEEE and Justin Barry who is a Director of Energy Initiatives at the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative.

In 2022 Maryland passed the Climate Solutions Now Act, a law that is so popular that Governor Hogan chose not to veto it in an election year. Maryland is now required by law to eliminate our net greenhouse gas pollution by 2045 and hit a 60% by 2031 benchmark. The very next year, in 2023 Maryland had the tremendous good fortune to have Governor Moore appoint Serena McIlwain as the new Secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment. Secretary McIlwain arrived in the position with a clear mandate from the legislature to eliminate net climate pollution. And she has taken up the mantle given to her by the legislature. Her department has created a detailed roadmap for how to achieve that requirement, the Climate Pollution Reduction Plan, a plan that, if fully implemented would save the average household up to $4,000 in reduced energy costs, generate up to $1.2 billion in public health benefits, increase personal income by $2.5 billion, and create a net gain of 27,400 jobs between now and 2031 as compared with current policies. She not only created that plan but has led her team in an effective implementation of the plan In this episode I have the great honor to be joined by Secretary McIlwain to talk about new data on how close we are to hitting the necessary pollution cuts, the tremendous work she has done so far and what work remains. She is actually joining this conversation from Rio De Janeiro where she is attending the 30th UN Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties or COP 30