The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) has announced the award of $566,000 in grants to local governments and businesses to fund microgrid planning.

Through the Resilient Maryland Program MEA funds necessary feasibility analysis, planning, and design operations to support microgrids. This year Baltimore City is the recipient of a $100,000 award to begin planning procedures for a microgrid that will serve the 14 buildings within its downtown municipal campus.

“Maryland continues to lead by example, providing funding to help Maryland communities and organizations address energy resiliency through the use of cleaner and renewable energy options,” said Governor Larry Hogan.

“Organizations across all sectors of our state’s economy are negatively impacted by power disruptions, due to more frequent extreme weather events, and higher demand for electricity,” explained MEA Director Dr. Mary Beth Tung, Esq. “This is the first year of the Resilient Maryland program, which provides grants to assist organizations with making their facilities more sustainable.”

From the press release:

Updating the old utility grid infrastructure can be costly; and one of the most practical ways is for organizations to install DERs that enhance operational efficiency, generate power onsite, and allow for more energy management control. New systems often have the added benefit of adding resilience to the grid itself, improving the integrity of the state’s energy landscape. However, gaining the support of organizational decision makers to approve these projects and attracting capital to finance these solutions remains the biggest challenge in transitioning from concept to actionable project. This is due to the significant costs associated with conducting the necessary analysis to produce critical proof-of-concept plans.

Funding for the Resilient Maryland Program comes from the State’s Strategic Energy Investment Fund (SEIF).

View the full list of awards.