| Program Name | Program Description |
BEPS Technical Assistance Program, an initiative of the Clean Buildings Hub
| Purpose: Empower Maryland’s building owners to make well informed energy investments in their properties through one-on-one technical assistance, such as technical support with benchmarking or multi-year retrofit planning.
Target Audience: Buildings over 35,000 square feet, subject to Maryland’s Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS).
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Commercial and Industrial Grant Program
| Purpose: Cost-effective energy efficiency investments in buildings with commercial, industrial, data centers, or non-profit uses to reduce operating costs and achieve energy performance that exceeds minimum codes and standards.
Target Audience: For-profit and non-profit building owners.
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Commercial Solar Grant Program
| Purpose: Provides grants for installation of solar PV systems on commercial properties (on rooftops, ground-mounts, or parking canopies).
Target Audience: Businesses, Nonprofits, Agriculture, and others.
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Community Solar Low-to Moderate Income Power Purchase Agreement Grant Program
| Program Purpose: Grants to Maryland community solar subscriber organizations to benefit low-income subscribers – enabling community solar subscriber organizations to offer lower subscription rates to lowincome households and increase their participation.
Target Audience: Eligible applicant entities are Community Solar Subscriber Organizations (residents do not receive funds directly from MEA).
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Decarbonizing Public Schools Program
| Purpose: Energy efficiency, electrification, and clean energy projects across school districts’ portfolios of current and future K-12 schools and support facilities. Eligible activities may include planning and capacity building, energy efficiency and solar projects on existing school facilities, and new construction of Net-Zero Energy schools.
Target Audience: Maryland’s 24 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and the MD School for the Blind.
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Electric School Bus Grant Program
| Purpose: Support the adoption of zero-emission electric school buses and the installation of associated charging infrastructure, benefiting both public and privately operated school bus fleets across Maryland. These efforts aim to promote cleaner air, environmental justice, and equitable access to sustainable transportation, especially for underserved and overburdened communities.
Target Audience: Public school districts, including those operated by tribal governments, charter schools, and non-profit organizations or vendors acting on behalf of a school district or charter school. Priority consideration may be given to applicants serving historically underserved or overburdened student populations.
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Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Rebate Program
| Purpose: Rebates to support the acquisition and installation of qualified electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), also known as charging stations. The program aims to incentivize the adoption of electric vehicles by reducing the upfront costs associated with EV charging infrastructure, both for commercial and residential settings.
Target Audience: Commercial entities (businesses, fleets, etc.) and Residential users.
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Electrification Outreach Program
| Purpose: Grants to support community-based outreach to educate owners and tenants of single-family and multi-family residences on the benefits of building electrification and to encourage the adoption of electrification measures.
Target Audience: Community-based non-profit organizations.
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Electrifying Community Buildings Program
| Purpose: Electrification of hospitals and medical facilities, multi-family buildings in low-and-moderate income communities, schools, and community buildings. Eligible projects will include heat pumps, energy efficient building shells and other energy conservation efforts.
Target Audience: For-profit and non-profit building owners.
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Higher Education Clean Energy Grant Program
| Purpose: Grants to advance sustainability and affordability at institutions of higher education, by incentivizing a) investments in onsite solar installation; b) integration of energy planning into operations through the completion of a clean energy master plan; c) development of clean energy training courses; and d) providing on-the-job learning opportunities for student interns.
Target Audience: All Maryland’s Accredited Institutions of Higher Education, including community colleges.
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Inflation Reduction Act Home Energy Rebate Programs: - Home Efficiency Rebates Opportunity Program (HERO);- Home Electrification & Appliance Rebates Program (HEAR)
| Purpose: To fund energy efficiency and electrification upgrades to single-family and multi-family homes’, focusing on low-and-moderate income beneficiaries.
Target Audience: Eligible applicant entities may include individual households and/or aggregator organizations that serve low-and-moderate income residents.
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Jane E. Lawton Conservation Loan Program
| Purpose: Low-cost capital financing for projects that result in significant energy savings and greenhouse gas emission reductions. Funds are provided at below-market rates to Maryland nonprofits and businesses and at zero financing cost to local governments, state agencies and departments.
Target Audience: Businesses and nonprofit organizations, Maryland counties and municipalities, and all State of Maryland bodies (i.e. state agencies, departments, colleges, universities).
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Local Government Energy Modernization (L-GEM)
| Purpose: Grant funding to support large-scale efforts to plan and implement energy efficiency and clean energy projects across local governments’ portfolios of public facilities. For FY26 only, MEA anticipates offering over $60 million in one-time funding to accelerate adoption of clean energy. This program will replace Maryland Smart Energy Communities (MSEC) for FY26.
Target Audience: County and municipal governments.
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Maryland Energy Storage System Grant Program
| Purpose: To support the installation of qualified energy storage technologies at residential and commercial properties.
Target Audience: Residential Homeowners, Commercial organizations, Nonprofits.
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Maryland Solar Access Program
| Purpose: To help low-to-moderate income Maryland residents install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to power their homes with clean, affordable, and sustainable energy.
Target Audience: Income-eligible households who contract with a solar PV vendor from the program’s participating contractor list.
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Medium-Duty and Heavy-Duty Zero Emission Vehicle Grant Program
| Purpose: Support the purchase of qualifying zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) and heavy equipment for commercial or industrial use. The program aims to accelerate the adoption of ZEVs in medium and heavy-duty applications, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting cleaner transportation solutions.
Target Audience: Commercial and industrial entities, agricultural, Fleet operators, and Manufacturers of medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles and equipment.
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Mutli-Family and Community Electrification Program
| Purpose: Install electric vehicle charging infrastructure in, or accessible to, low-and-moderate income, overburdened, and underserved communities to expand access to EV charging in Maryland, and reduce transportation emissions in those communities.
Target Audience: Businesses, nonprofits, and state and local governments.
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OPEN Energy Innovation Grant Program
| Purpose: Grants and other potential incentives or support for innovative projects focused on advancing MEA’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve equitable access to clean energy and reduce costs as well as other state goals. Typically, these are projects that fall outside of the agency’s established technology and sector specific programs and are focused on deploying clean energy technologies.
Target Audience: Businesses, nonprofit organizations, local governments, state governments, higher education institutions, other organizations.
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Residential Energy Equity
| Purpose: Grants to support organizations implementing energy efficiency, electrification, and solar PV upgrades to single-family and multi-family homes that benefit low-and-moderate income residents.
Target Audience: Eligible applicant entities are Nonprofit Organizations and Local Governments that serve low-and-moderate income residents (residents do not receive funds directly from MEA). Starting in FY26, nonprofit organizations seeking funding to upgrade LMI-serving commercial facilities should see the Commercial & Industrial Grant Program below.
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Resilient Maryland Program
| Purpose: Provides grants to develop and install microgrids, resiliency hubs, and other distributed energy resources (DERs) for critical and community uses. Funding for planning or implementation available.
Target Audience: Facilities that serve as community hubs or as critical infrastructure (e.g., hospitals, wastewater treatment, food supply chains, etc.). Eligible applicants include local governments, nonprofits, higher education institutions, and others.
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SolarAPP+ Implementation Grant Program
| Purpose: Grants to defray the costs associated with implementing the free-to-use U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory SolarAPP+ automated residential solar permitting software, such as contractual support, staff training costs, software integration costs, and others.
Target Audience: Maryland counties, cities, towns, and other Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs).
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