Advertise on podcast: Maryland Energy Talk

Among the many changes made by Speaker Pena-Melnyk is moving energy issues from the Economic Matters Committee to the Environment and Transportation Committee. This is a change represents a shift in how energy issues are contextualized, from primarily being a matter of economic development, to being about the environment. This move sends the hot potato of energy issues to Chair Korman, who is my guest today to talk all about how he sees energy issues and what is thinking is at the start of the 2026 legislative session. Chair Korman and Subcommittee Chairman Fraser-Hidalgo also organized a series of briefings on energy issues for their committee. The briefings are terrific and I have linked them below: Briefing with representatives from the Texas and California grids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TmrH9_gTT4 Briefing with PJM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGgmp90GXTk Briefing with clean energy industry and climate advocates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeQTOdRrkwY Briefing with the Maryland Department of the Environment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq5DG5aol_0 Briefing with utilities and Constellation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VVmGE_QV-E Briefing with the Maryland Energy Administration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWUMUyIJpX0 Briefing with the Public Service Commission and the Office of the People’s Counsel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWNtXARBAk8

Building new transmission is extremely costly and highly controversial but at the same time we know that more transmission will be needed on our electric grid as energy demand continues to grow. Is it possible for us to ensure the grid is capable of moving energy where it needs to go without breaking the bank or seizing property through eminent domain?  The SAVINGS Act, introduced by Delegate Qi and Senator Hester, would deploy grid enhancing technologies that will allow us to get more transmission capability without building new transmission lines. To talk all about this bill, why it is necessary and how it works, I am joined by Katie Mettle who is the Policy Principal for Maryland and New Jersey at Advanced Energy United 

In his executive order on climate and energy issues in June of 2024 Governor Moore directed his agencies to design and implement a Zero-Emission Heating Equipment Standard and a Clean Heat Standard to support it. As far as policies to reduce pollution and costs for homeowners go, this is the gold standard, and I applaud Governor Moore for his leadership on this issue. A Zero-Emission Heating Equipment Standard paired with a Clean Heat Standard has the potential to fully decarbonize almost all of Maryland’s building stock and lower energy bills in the process. In this episode I am joined by Ruth Ann Norton who is the President of Green and Healthy Homes Initiative and Tony Sirna who is the Senior Policy Lead on Buildings for Evergreen Action to explain these policies and their benefits in detail.

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.

On December 17th 2025 something happened at PJM that has never happened before. At their regularly scheduled Capacity Auction, PJM did not hit capacity. If you are like me, it’s clear to you that this is bad news, but you aren’t precisely sure what that means. To break it down and share his expertise I spoke with Bryan Dunning who is Senior Policy Analyst with Center for Progressive Reform.

Many of the buildings that make up the Baltimore Skyline are heated by an underground network of steam moved through pipes. That district heating system is owned and operated by a company called Vicinity. Right now, that steam is almost entirely generated through combustion. However, Vicinity has high hopes for transitioning to electric steam, which is a very cool name for steam generated through electricity. This has the potential to decarbonize the heating load of many large buildings without those building owners having to change anything about their buildings. Samay Kindra who leads government affairs for Vicinity Energy talks about Vicnity’s plans to generate their steam electrically.

Whether you care about energy costs, climate change, job creation or grid reliability there is one program in Maryland that has been more successful than any other, and that is the EmPOWER Program the state’s flagship energy efficiency program.  According to recent analysis, Every dollar invested in EmPOWER Maryland returns $1.81 in benefits for Marylanders. By reducing aggregate consumer demand for power, EmPOWER investments keep electric rates down for all of us. As a result, EmPOWER has saved Marylanders more than $4 billion on their energy bills and reduced statewide greenhouse gas emissions by at least 9.6 million metric tons. EmPOWER is the silent workhouse of decarbonization in Maryland, consistently slashing energy bills and emissions in both the power and residential sectors year after year, one attic insulation job at a time. To talk about EmPOWER, how it works its miracles, how it has changed over time, and what benefits we can continue to expect from the program I am joined by Mike Specian who is a Research Manager at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy or ACEEE and Justin Barry who is a Director of Energy Initiatives at the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative.

In 2022 Maryland passed the Climate Solutions Now Act, a law that is so popular that Governor Hogan chose not to veto it in an election year. Maryland is now required by law to eliminate our net greenhouse gas pollution by 2045 and hit a 60% by 2031 benchmark.  The very next year, in 2023 Maryland had the tremendous good fortune to have Governor Moore appoint Serena McIlwain as the new Secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment. Secretary McIlwain arrived in the position with a clear mandate from the legislature to eliminate net climate pollution.  And she has taken up the mantle given to her by the legislature. Her department has created a detailed roadmap for how to achieve that requirement, the Climate Pollution Reduction Plan, a plan that, if fully implemented would save the average household up to $4,000 in reduced energy costs, generate up to $1.2 billion in public health benefits, increase personal income by $2.5 billion, and create a net gain of 27,400 jobs between now and 2031 as compared with current policies. She not only created that plan but has led her team in an effective implementation of the plan  In this episode I have the great honor to be joined by Secretary McIlwain to talk about new data on how close we are to hitting the necessary pollution cuts, the tremendous work she has done so far and what work remains. She is actually joining this conversation from Rio De Janeiro where she is attending the 30th UN Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties or COP 30 

I think most people following Maryland energy issues are aware that Brandon Shores and Wagner coal plants are closing because coal cannot compete in today’s energy market, but far fewer know the full story of how these two coal plants, built more than 50 years ago, ended up costing Maryland rate payers billions of dollars in the 2020s. That story is so full of negligence, greed, and conflict of interest from PJM and utilities that I feel genuine shock every time I hear it. I honestly believe that the energy conversation in Maryland would be fundamentally changed if everyone knew the full timeline of events that led us to this moment. That’s why I’m dedicating this episode to telling the true and terrible story of these coal plants. I won’t have a guest joining me today, it’s just me, you, and the gripping tale of a multibillion dollar heist. 

Appliances used to heat our buildings emit three times more air pollution than all the power plants in Maryland combined. As we have talked about before, addressing this pollution in large existing buildings has tremendous benefits, and Building Energy Performance Standards or BEPS are an indispensable tool for energy efficiency and pollution reduction from large existing buildings. 15 different jurisdictions across the country have adopted Building Energy Performance Standards. Maryland, of course, enacted a state-wide BEPS program in 2022, requiring all buildings over 35,000 square feet to eliminate onsite emissions by 2040, and that remains current law. The Maryland General Assembly in 2025 passed legislation to conduct a study about Maryland’s BEPS program and how it could be improved, and while that study is ongoing, it is worth looking at Maryland’s only other successful BEPS program, the one in Montgomery county which is successfully being implemented today. To talk about all about Montgomery County’s BEPS program and what lessons the state wide BEPS program could take away I am joined by Emily Curley who is the Building Energy Performance Programs Manager for Montgomery County and Garrett Fitzgerald who is the Section Chief - Climate Programs and State Policy for Montgomery County. You can read all about how lawsuits challenging BEPS are flimsy here. That blog talks about a Colorado case specifically, but the case being brought in Montgomery County is on even shakier ground.

In February of 2023 the Maryland People’s Counsel initiated a docket at the Public Service Commission to consider the future of gas in Maryland. That docket has already resulted in meaningful changes to how Maryland regulates gas infrastructure, and the process is far from complete. To talk about the proceedings, what has come out of them so far, and what the next steps in the process are, I am thrilled to be joined by the Chair of the Maryland Public Service Commission himself, Chairman Fred Hoover.

Solar appears to have reached some kind of super critical singularity, or tipping point. Whatever you want to call it, something is happening with solar that has never happened before and that many people never thought would never be possible.  In the first half of 2025 China installed more than 250 gigawatts of solar energy. For context, the PJM Grid has a combined total capacity of 182 gigawatts. So the solar China installed just in the past 6 months is capable of meeting 130% of PJM’s peak demand   And this is not just happening in China. In 2024 Pakistan imported 17 gigawatts of solar power, equal to the countries entire installed capacity of gas power, and twice the installed capacity of their coal fleet, imported in a single year.  For the first time Texas is regularly meeting roughly half of its power demand with solar energy, and California, the fourth largest economy in the world, can at times meet 100% of its power demand with solar energy. So much solar has been built in California that the use of gas for electricity generation has decreased 40% since 2023 Globally, the world installed 64% more solar so far in 2025 than we did in 2024, which was itself a record smashing year, an exponential growth rate of head spinning speed   This is all happening because solar energy is now by far the cheapest form of electricity generation the fastest to build, and the cleanest to boot.  To celebrate this bright spot in energy news, Third Act has declared today, September 21st as Sun - Day, a day to celebrate the amazing power of the sun. To talk about what this new solar paradigm means for Maryland I am joined by Leah Meredith who is the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director at the Solar Energy Industry Association SEIA, or as she is affectionately known, Leah with SEIA 

Energy prices are going up and it is a real problem. Families are being forced to make difficult decisions about whether to heat their home, or put food on the table. What is driving up these energy bills? Exactly how much have they gone up, and what can people do to lower their bills?  To help answer all of these questions my guest today is low income energy advocate Laurel Peltier who Chairs the Energy Advocates Coalition and has been instrumental in recent policy victories to help lower energy prices. She volunteers her time offering expert advice to people struggling to pay their energy bills, and she is kind enough to share that wisdom with all of us.  You can see Laurel's complete guide to lowering your energy bill here

If you could take every dollar the state invests in clean energy and turn it into two dollars, that would be a super power, but much more than that The Maryland Clean Energy Center has proven that it is able to turn every one dollar invested into clean energy into 14 dollars. Given that the state sorely needs the ability to multiply money right now, I sat down with Kathy Magruder who is the Executive Director of the Maryland Clean Energy Center and Keith Wang who is the Finance Manager at MCEC. 

The demand for electricity in our region is projected to increase sharply in the coming years, driven largely by data centers. We know that the fastest, most cost effective way to make sure the grid has the capacity to accommodate this increased demand is through the use of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs).  Sparkfund is a new company with a novel approach to bringing DERs to scale. I first heard about Sparkfund from an episode of David Roberts’ Volts podcast (which I highly recommend listening to as well), and given that Maryland very much needs to find ways of building new generation in-state quickly and cheaply, I immediately wanted to learn more. When I learned that Sparkfund is looking to work in Maryland, I of course wanted to have someone on this podcast to talk all about what this new approach will mean for our state.  I am honored today to joined by Brendan Reed who is the Vice-President of Sparkfund to tell us all about it.