Maryland has had policies to boost in-state solar generation for about two decades now, and those investments have paid off significantly. Solar accounts for 7% of the electricity Maryland generates, which is more than we generate from coal. Pennsylvania, which has practically no solar investment policy, gets only 1.25%  of their electricity from solar. Even though Pennsylvania has twice the population of Maryland and is roughly four times the size of Maryland, we still have more solar jobs in Maryland than they do in Pennsylvania

Maryland’s investments in solar are paying major dividends in the form of more in-state generation, more jobs, and lower energy costs. Solar is, of course, now the cheapest form of electricity generation and continuing to deploy it at a rapid clip is essential to meeting growing energy demand. 

Vice-Chair Charkoudian has developed a policy that will improve how Maryland invests in solar energy, allowing more solar to be built more quickly while also reducing the ratepayer impact of clean energy policies. She has, in her policy wizardry, found a way to make every dollar spent on solar go farther, to increase the number of dollars spent on solar, and simultaneously decrease the number of dollars spent on renewable energy, and by the end of this episode by god you will understand how it works. 

The solar policy that Vice-Chair Charkoudian is introducing this year and that we will be discussing today is largely the same as the solar components of her Abundant Affordable Clean Energy bill she introduced last year. While many portions of her bill got incorporated into the leadership energy package, the solar policies were left on the cutting room floor, and so she is back to finish the job.

Vice-Chair Charkoudian and I recorded this episode before the news broke that she had been named Vice-Chair of the Economic Matters Committee, so I don't use her new title in the episode.