Democratic Delegate Sue Hecht has already added five amendments to her legislation aimed at increasing the rate at which power companies begin to incorporate solar. Her bill would force power companies to increase the amount of renewable energy they distribute and mandate a portion of that energy come from solar power.
The measure builds on a 2004 law that mandates at least 7.5 percent of energy supplied by a power company be from renewable sources such as wind or solar by 2017. Hecht's legislation would increase the minimum amount of renewable energy by 2 percent and require that addition be strictly solar.
Power companies would have until 2022 to comply.
One of Hecht's amendments would allow the power companies to buy their way out of compliance by purchasing "solar credits" from residential and commercial solar users for at least 15 years.
This would encourage more solar use, she said.
create a joint work group made up of Senate Finance Committee and House Economic Matters Committee members to examine the implementation of the law."We really want this whole discussion of solar energy to continue," Hecht said during a hearing in the Economic Matters Committee. "This is really important and just the next step of what we want to do."
Several panels of supporters testified in favor of Hecht's bill Tuesday.
"We believe this is a way to bring solar to working families in Maryland," said Gary Skulnik, executive director and president of the Clean Energy Partnership. "If you pass this bill, solar could be affordable for working families, not just wealthy people."
Power companies Constellation Energy and Pepco submitted written testimony opposing Hecht's legislation. Those groups did not send representatives to speak on behalf of their position.
Increasing incentives
Two of Republican Delegate Joe Bartlett's bills geared toward solar energy reached the committee stage Tuesday.
Bartlett presented one of his solar bills to the House Ways and Means Committee, of which he is a member. He used a PowerPoint presentation to outline the elements of his bill that would ease state property tax burdens for those who install solar panels on their homes.
Homes that have solar panels are assessed at higher values, Bartlett said, causing property taxes on those homes to increase.
The Maryland Energy Administration and the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors backed the legislation.
"Is it going to be enough to put somebody over the top to install solar?" Bartlett asked. "No, but I think it's a piece of the puzzle."
Bartlett also testified on one of his bills in the House Economic Matters Committee.
The bill would increase the grant awards under the state's solar energy program. He wants to increase funding for residential solar installations from 20 percent to 50 percent of the cost, to a maximum reimbursement of $15,000.
The bill also calls for increases in grants for non-residential solar use and solar energy used for heating water.
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