FY25 Community Solar LMI-PPA Grant Program

PROGRAM UPDATE AS OF DECEMBER 19, 2024

The FY25 Community Solar LMI-PPA Grant Program Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) has been amended as of December 19, 2024, to offer a higher individual incentive, and maximum individual incentive amount, for Area of Interest 3 projects. This decision was made as a result of extensive feedback from the community solar industry that better informed the Maryland Energy Administration of costs associated with landfill and brownfield community solar projects. Further, the FOA extends Area of Interest 2 eligiblity to community solar projects that are listed in the "Waitlist" or "WL" status on their electric utility's Community Solar Pilot Program website as of December 18, 2024. The deadline for Area of Interest 2 and Area of Interest 3 has also been extended to January 30, 2025. See the FOA and associated application documents in the "Program Documents" section below for more information.

**FY25 Program Open and Accepting Applications**

Program Description: This program provides funding to Community Solar Subscriber Organizations to offset costs associated with Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) enabling clean energy to be offered to Low-to-Moderate Income (LMI) households at lower cost.

Program Purpose: Providing greater cost savings and expanding access to the Community Solar Pilot Program for LMI households, and for the Community Solar Permanent Program for Low Income households.

Type of Program: Statewide Competitive

Program Application Deadline: **EXTENDED AS OF DECEMBER 19, 2024 - SEE BELOW**

AOI 1 Deadline: 3:00 P.M. ET, December 3, 2024
AOI 2 and AOI 3 Deadline: 3:00 P.M. ET, Monday, January 30, 2025

3:00 P.M. ET, Thursday, January 16, 2024
3:00 P.M. ET, Friday, November 29, 2024

Anticipated Program Budget: Approximately $15,000,000 from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund (SEIF) using Solar Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) funding. At MEA’s discretion, funding from other sources with varying restrictions may also be possible. For more information, please see the Funding Opportunity Announcement below.

Program Documents:

FY25 Community Solar LMI-PPA Funding Opportunity Announcement v.1.3 (Updated Dec 19, 2024)
FY25 Community Solar LMI-PPA Application Workbook (Updated Dec 19, 2024; the filled in version will be Attachment D to the grant document)
MEA Grant Agreement General Provisions; the latest version is available on MEA's Incentives Page. (this will be Attachment A to the grant document)
FY25 Community Solar LMI-PPA AOI 1-AOI 2 Application Checklist
FY25 Community Solar LMI-PPA AOI 3 Application Checklist (Updated Dec 19, 2024)

The Maryland Public Service Commission serves as the Program Manager for Maryland's Community Solar Pilot Program and permanent Community Solar Program. This webpage provides information for each project that has been provided solar capacity in the Pilot Program and permenant program. This information has been provided by the Subscriber Organizations and is updated at least quarterly. Items in red are updates from the last quarterly report.

Publicly available data is provided by Excel spreadsheet.

List of Community Solar Projects in MD with Project Details: Public Information 2024.02.04

For more information regarding the Community Solar LMI-PPA Grant Program, contact MEA program manager David Comis by email at david.comis@maryland.gov or by phone at 410-537-4064.

Follow MEA on social media for updates: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn