Maryland’s Solar Future: Francis Hodsoll Reports at MD Clean Energy Reception

ANNAPOLIS, MD—

How do we turn “green” into gold?

This was the question posed by the Maryland Clean Energy Center at its Legislative Reception, “Transforming the Energy Landscape: Turning Green to Gold” on Wednesday of this week.

Policy makers, local representatives, and business leaders convened to share a dialogue on the major clean-energy related topics that are currently facing the General Assembly. The success of Maryland’s clean energy economy—turning “green into gold”—often relies heavily on these policies.

The event featured speakers such as Malcolm Woolf, the Director of the Maryland Energy Administration and Senator Thomas “Mack” Middleton, and our own Executive Director, Francis Hodsoll, who reported on the recent successes of the solar industry locally and nationally and the policies that will help us ensure a strong future for Maryland solar.

So, where do we stand with solar in Maryland, and in the U.S. more generally? Here’s a re-cap of Francis’s report on the world of solar.

Solar sees success in the face of challenge

Bringing together policy makers, the clean energy businesses and other stakeholders allows us to chart the path to a clean, sustainable energy future.
Collectively, we have had much success, but we now have tremendous challenges: 95% of today’s energy infrastructure supports the technologies of yesterday.
The fabric of our laws and regulations that define the markets and regulate the businesses support and protect the energy technologies of yesterday.
These factors and our proclivity to resist change and see obstacles rather than opportunity create real hurdles to the development and deployment of the energy technologies of the future

MDV-SEIA’s Role in the Clean Energy Economy

Our members have built the solar industry in MD – we worked with many of you in this room to design the policies, we advocated, and together successfully enacted the laws and rules that define our markets and govern our businesses.
Those businesses that we built represented an estimated 40% job growth last year.
Q3 2011 solar industry achieved 140 percent annual growth. Predictions are that Q4 was stronger than the third quarter.

Solar at the National Level

Today solar industry employs 100,000 Americans with 5,000 businesses
Solar has become mainstream for corporate America including companies like Target, Walgreens, Whole Foods, Johnson & Johnson, Safeway and others.
Nearly 9 out of 10 Americans support the development and growth of solar energy.
For the past 4 years, 89% of Americans—80% of Republicans, 90% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats believe that the United States should develop and grow our supply of solar energy.

Solar in Maryland

In June 2011, SEIA recognized Maryland as one of the national leaders in solar development.
Maryland now ranks 16^th among all US states for installed solar capacity.
Over the last 5 years, Maryland’s investment in solar grew from under $1 million in 2006 to over $100 million in 2011.
Maryland has 114 solar-related businesses!
These statistics are incredible given the solar carve only came into effect in 2008.

So… now what?

The legislative priority for solar in Maryland is S.B. 791: Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard- Solar Energy and Solar Water Heating Systems.”

Maryland has achieved remarkable growth, but we are about to hit a bump in the road. The current RPS requirements have a growth hockey stick built into them. Essentially this Bill is a technical fix that will have a dramatic impact on jobs.
The good news is that the dramatic drop in prices gives the industry ability to deliver more solar at a lower cost.

What are the bill’s benefits?

S.B 791 creates over 4,000 solar jobs (nearly twice that of the current legislation) and adds more than 10,000 jobs across the Maryland economy by 2018.
S.B. 791 advance MD economic goals with 3.3 billion in direct investments over the next 7 years.
New tax revenues resulting from job growth will total $144 million in the next eight years alone.
This bill helps offset 1,300 MW of inefficient and expensive fossil-fuel produced peaking power plants.

Costs- residential and commercial

MEA and MDV-SEIA have both separately concluded that the maximum impact is $0.19 cents on a residential bill
The impact on commercial customers is about one-tenth of one percent.
Lets put this in perspective: 4,000 jobs, an additional $1 billion in direct investment over next seven years for 0.19 cents per month or one-tenth of one percent.

Other Legislation to Watch

SB 595 Electricity, Pinske & Rosapepe– Community Energy–Generating Facilities and Net Energy Metering
HB 258, Haddaway – Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard – Sale or Transfer of Solar Renewable Energy Credits – Elimination of Minimum Required Term
SB 677, Senator Rosapepe – Solar Water Heating Systems and Billing Services – Prince George’s County

Stay tuned for more information about how you can get involved in advancing Maryland’s clean energy economy during this legislative session.

Check out Maryland Clean Energy Center’s website: http://mdcleanenergy.org/