Shows / Maryland Energy Talk
Maryland Energy Talk
Maryland Energy Talk explores how we can build a cleaner, more affordable, reliable, energy system for Maryland. We will explore new ideas about energy and review the fundamentals of our energy system.
Episodes
Maryland Energy TalkThe Solar Power Purchase Agreement Saving Maryland $300 million
In August Governor Moore announced that his administration had entered into a Power Purchase Agreement for 300 megawatts of solar in Maryland that would save…
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The Perfect Storm Increasing Energy Bills
Why are energy bills so high? What do you say when people ask you that question? It’s complicated right? Anyone with a one sentence explanation is either…
Maryland Energy TalkMaryland is About to Unleash Distributed Batteries
Thanks to the Utility Relief Act of 2026 and the Next Generation Energy Act of 2026 the Public Service Commission is currently running a utility scale battery…
Maryland Energy TalkMaryland's Moratorium on Data Centers
Data centers are driving up our electricity bills and increasing our air pollution. According to Monitoring Analytics, between 2025 and 2028 data center demand…
Maryland Energy TalkThe Maryland General Assembly Just Turbocharged Our Greenbank
You may have missed it in the Utility RELIEF Act of 2026 or in the budget, but one of the most consequential and long- lasting provisions was a significant…
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Solar Just Saved the Grid From a Crisis Caused by Coal and Gas Plants
Something happened on July 2nd that really turned conventional wisdom about renewables on its head. Then, on July 8th, something that I think is even more…
Maryland Energy TalkEverything You Need to Know About Maryland Plug-In Solar
As of today, July 1st, it is legal, under certain conditions, to plug solar panels directly into a wall outlet in Maryland. Plug-in solar legislation is…
Maryland Energy TalkWhat Are Forecasted Test Years?
In the negotiations between the House and the Senate on the Utility RELIEF Act this year, one of the major sticking points was whether to get rid of forecasted…
Maryland Energy TalkAdrian Boafo on Clean Energy, Climate Change, and Data Centers
Delegate Adrian Boafo has served in the Maryland legislature for the past four years. In those years Delegate Boafo established himself as a champion in the…
Maryland Energy TalkSenator Hester on Data Center Policy in Maryland
The tidal wave of data centers flooding onto our grid is a major reason why energy bills are going up. A recent report from Monitoring Analytics found that…
Maryland Energy TalkThe CHERISH Act
Air pollution is a significant threat to human health and well being. Particulate Matter of 2.5 micrometers and smaller, known as PM 2.5, is only one of common…
Maryland Energy TalkMaryland's Largest Solar Farm is on a Coal Mine
In December of 2025 a final switch was flipped and 160 megawatts of electricity started flowing onto Maryland’s grid from the biggest solar farm in the entire…
Maryland Energy TalkChair Korman on Energy Issues in 2026
Among the many changes made by Speaker Pena-Melnyk is moving energy issues from the Economic Matters Committee to the Environment and Transportation Committee…
Maryland Energy TalkReducing Transmission Costs
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…
Maryland Energy TalkWhat is a Zero-Emission Heating Equipment Standard?
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…
Maryland Energy TalkVice-Chair Charkoudian’s Affordable Solar Act
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…
Maryland Energy TalkPJM Didn’t Hit capacity. What Does That Mean?
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…
Maryland Energy TalkElectrifying Baltimore's District Heating
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…
Maryland Energy TalkMaryland's Most Successful Energy Program
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…
Maryland Energy TalkSecretary McIlwain on meeting Maryland’s climate mandates
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…
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The Coal Plants Costing Maryland Billions
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…
Maryland Energy TalkMaryland’s Large Building Energy Success Story
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…
Maryland Energy TalkChair Hoover on the Future of Gas in Maryland
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…
Maryland Energy TalkSomething New is Happening With Solar
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…
Maryland Energy TalkWhy Energy Bills Are Going Up and How To Lower Them
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…
Maryland Energy TalkThe Magic of the Maryland Clean Energy Center
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 Energy TalkA New Way To Scale Up Distributed Energy Resources
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…
Maryland Energy TalkA New Report on How PJM is Increasing Energy Costs
Energy prices in Maryland are going up. They rose in January of this year mainly because of utility overspending on distribution networks, this summer and…
Maryland Energy TalkMike's New Book: The Lost Trees of Willow Ave.
Mike Tidwell is the founder and executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and a successful author. For the past 20 years he has dedicated…
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Session Recap 2025: A Deep Dive Into The Leadership Energy Bills
Congratulations on finishing the legislative session of 2025 everyone! I want to say a heartfelt and genuine thank you to every lawmaker and every staffer who…
Maryland Energy TalkThe Benefits of Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks
Advanced Clean Cars II is, according to MDE, Maryland’s single largest climate pollution reduction strategy over the long term, and Advanced Clean Trucks is a…
Maryland Energy TalkThe Prescription Drug Affordability Board
In this episode we take a break from our normal energy focused programing to talk about a historic and nationally significant bill moving through the…
Maryland Energy TalkNew Modeling on Maryland’s Electricity Grid
In Annapolis there is much debate about what Maryland’s electric grid does or doesn’t need, one thing that has been decidedly absent is any publicly available…
Maryland Energy TalkWhat's in a REC?
I have a real treat to share with you today, a conversation with Delegate Charkoudian explaining what a Renewable Energy Credit is! This is another one from…
Maryland Energy TalkWhat's The Deal With All The Energy Bills?
I think everyone in Annapolis is aware there are a lot of energy bills flying around, but not everyone is fully up to date on each of the bills, what they do…
Maryland Energy TalkAmending BEPS
In 2022 the Maryland General Assembly enacted Building Energy Performance Standards or BEPS. More than a dozen states and municipalities have enacted BEPS and…
Maryland Energy TalkThe Transportation and Climate Alignment Act
Transportation is the largest single source of climate pollution in Maryland. Fully one third of all our emissions come from this sector. For reference, the…
Maryland Energy TalkWhat is PJM?
In the summer of 2024 I sat down with Delegate Lorig Charkoudian to record a conversation about what PJM is and how it affects our energy policy here in…
Maryland Energy TalkSenator Van Hollen on Taxpayer Relief Through the RENEW Act
Right now, Marylanders are paying for the costs of climate change. Higher tides, hotter heat waves, and heavier rain events are all damaging infrastructure and…
Maryland Energy TalkMaryland's Landmark Protection From Retail Suppliers
In 2024 the Maryland General Assembly passed the Electricity and Gas - Retail Supply - Regulation and Consumer Protection Act, better known as SB 1, introduced…
Maryland Energy TalkSTRIDE, The Program Driving Up Everyone's Energy Bill
Many Marylanders are seeing record high gas bills this year because of a little known Maryland program called STRIDE In 2013 Maryland lawmakers created the…
Maryland Energy TalkHow to Generate More Electricity in Maryland, Fast
Maryland needs to generate more electricity in state. As Delegate Lorig Charkoudian explains, the fastest, cheapest way to do that is through the Abundant…