The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA)’s Low-to-Moderate Income (LMI) Community Solar Program recently provided over $950,000 in grant funding to support what will be the largest 100% LMI community solar project in the country. It is a joint project between Neighborhood Sun, Ameresco, and Montgomery County and will be located at a capped landfill. The project will have two 2-megawatt arrays solely for community use that will generate 7.65 million kilowatt hours of electricity every year. The site will also host a third 2-megawatt solar array which will be used by the Montgomery County, Maryland government through a power purchase agreement, bringing total site production up to 11.7 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. County residents who get their electricity from Pepco and meet the LMI income requirements will be eligible to subscribe to receive electricity from this community solar project. Construction is set to begin in 2022.
“The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) was pleased to provide for this project over $950,000 in grant funding through MEA's Low- to Moderate Income Community Solar Program, which provides incentives to reduce the cost of electricity generated from clean energy to Marylander's, with income limitations that result in energy costs being a disproportionate portion of their household expenses,” said Mary Beth Tung, director, MEA.
For more information on this project, review the press release here. MEA also has more details on the Community Solar Program here.