The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) is pleased to announce the 2024 Resilient Maryland Program.
Donor Name: Maryland Energy Administration (MEA)
State: Maryland
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/15/2024
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The Resilient Maryland Program is MEA’s award winning comprehensive distributed energy resource (DER) system development and installation incentive program that provides funds to Maryland communities and organizations to offset the costs of planning, designing, and constructing microgrids, resilient facility power systems, and resiliency hubs. The 2024 program provides an array of incentives to assist projects from conception through installation and operation
Resilient Maryland is provided to help Maryland communities and organizations identify optimal microgrid and other DER configurations to bolster the resilience, sustainability, energy affordability, and efficiency of their essential facilities and operations and safeguard them from the harmful effects of prolonged power outages. The 2024 program seeks projects that pursue creative solutions and innovations that create replicable and scalable DER system models, enhance energy equity for Maryland’s overburdened, underserved, and most vulnerable communities, and provide power for key community locations to serve as resiliency hubs.
2024 Resilient Maryland Program provides funding under three (3) Areas of Interest (AOIs), which are briefly explained in the list below.
- AOI 1: Feasibility and Planning
- This AOI provides funds for feasibility analysis and other preconstruction activities for the planning and development of microgrids, resilient facility power systems, and resiliency hubs.
- AOI 2: Microgrid Capital
- This AOI provides capital for equipment and installation to help offset the costs of constructing microgrids and other DER systems.
- AOI 3: Resiliency Hubs:
- This AOI provides capital for equipment and installation to help offset the costs of constructing solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery energy storage systems to provide essential power to facilities that serve as resiliency hubs for their surrounding communities.
Funding Information
For Area of Interest 1: Preconstruction Planning
Anticipated Funding: A total of $800,000 is anticipated to be available, from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund (“SEIF”), for Resilient Maryland AOI 1 projects. The amount awarded may be more or less depending on the quantity and quality of applications received.
- Category 1: Microgrid: $125,000
- Category 2: Resiliency Hubs: $12,000 per hub, maximum total award $120,000
- Category 3: Resilient Facility Power Systems: $30,000
Area of Interest 2: Capital Support
A total of $3,000,000 is anticipated to be available, from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund (“SEIF”), for Resilient Maryland AOI 2 projects.
- Category 1: Microgrids: $1,500,000
- Category 2: Resilient Facility Power Systems: $1,000,000
- Category 3: Resilient CHP for Critical Purposes: $250,000
Area of Interest 3: Resiliency Hubs
A total of $2,200,000 is anticipated to be available, from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund (“SEIF”). Individual Awards are not expected to exceed $500,000 per project.
Eligibility Criteria
For Area of Interest 1: Preconstruction Planning
The following organizations are eligible to apply for Resilient Maryland AOI 1 funds:
- Critical Infrastructure
- Local Governments
- Nonprofits
- Universities and Colleges
- Multifamily Housing
- Manufacturers
- Farms / Agriculture
- Municipal Utilities
- Others, case-by-case
Area of Interest 2: Capital Support
The following organizations are eligible to apply for Resilient Maryland AOI 2 funds:
- Critical Infrastructure
- Local Governments
- Nonprofits
- Universities and Colleges
- Multifamily Housing
- Manufacturers
- Farms / Agriculture
- Municipal Utilities
- Others, case-by-case basis
Area of Interest 3: Resiliency Hubs
- Maryland businesses, non-profits, local governments, public universities, community colleges, and public schools within the State of Maryland. Eligible organizations must be registered to do business in, or have authority to operate within, the State of Maryland.
- Individual Maryland residents are not eligible for Resilient Maryland grants, however qualifying sole proprietorship agricultural operations are eligible to apply. To be considered “qualifying,” the sole proprietorship must be up-to-date filing its IRS Form Schedule F and filing its Nutrient Management Plan with the Maryland Department of Agriculture. MEA may ask for copies of one or both of these documents for eligibility verification.
- A project may be owned by the project site owner, or the project may be owned by a third party that installs and operates the project at the project site and provides the benefit of the project to the project site owner (e.g., under a power purchase agreement, lease, etc.). In any case, both the site owner and the system owner must be applicants (i.e., sign the application) and, if awarded, a grantee (i.e., sign the grant agreement). Funding under an award will be provided directly to the applicant that has requested to receive the funds on the application form, with the exception of state agencies and units of local government, in which case funds will be awarded directly to the state agency or local government.
For more information, visit MEA.
