Md. Code Regs. 20.62.02.02

Current through Register Vol. 52, No. 1, January 10, 2025

Section 20.62.02.02 - Program Generation Capacity

A. Capacity Limit.

(1) Statewide Capacity.

(a) Subject to §A(1)(b) of this regulation, an electric company may not accept pilot program project applications after the Statewide capacity of pilot projects has exceeded 4.55 percent of the 2015 Maryland peak demand in MW as measured by the sum of the nameplate capacity of each project's inverter.

(b) An electric company shall accept an additional 0.15 percent of 2015 capacity for projects serving the LMI category or projects serving the Small category under §A(3)(a)(iv) of this regulation if an electric utility has reached full capacity available to projects in the LMI category.

(c) An electric company shall accept an additional 0.05 percent of 2015 capacity for projects of 50kW or less during the fourth through seventh year of the program.

(2) Annual Cap. The following percentages of 2015 Maryland peak demand will set annual program capacity:

(a) First year-0.6 percent.

(b) Second year-0.6 percent.

(c) Third year-0.3 percent.

(d) Fourth year-0.35 percent.

(e) Fifth year - 0.8 percent.

(f) Sixth year - 0.9 percent.

(g) Seventh year - 0.95 percent.

(3) Program Categories. An electric company shall accept pilot projects in each of the following categories up to the annual and program capacity limits according to the percentages shown in each of the following paragraphs:

(a) Small, Brownfield and Other Category (Small) - 30 percent.

(i) Projects up to and including 500 kW.

(ii) Projects installed on rooftops, parking lots, roadways or parking structures.

(iii) Projects installed on brownfield locations.

(iv) Projects serving more than 51 percent of kWh output to Low or Moderate income customers.

(v) Projects installed on clean fill sites.

(b) Open Category (Open) - 40 percent - Projects of any size up to 2 MW.

(c) Low and Moderate Income Category (LMI) - 30 percent - Projects serving more than 30 percent of kWh output to Low or Moderate income subscribers of which Low Income subscribers receive a minimum of 10 percent of kWh output.

(d) Projects which qualify for the Small or LMI category may use capacity from the Open category after the electric company has accepted projects up to the limit of its respective categories.

(e) An electric company may accept an LMI project using either LMI capacity or LMI projects serving the Small category under §A(3)(a)(iv) of this regulation as described in §A(2) of this regulation from subsequent program years if the capacity in the current year has been fully allocated.

(4) Electric Company Program Capacity Limits.

(a) Subject to the annual and category limits established in this regulation, an electric company shall accept pilot program applications up to 4.55 percent of its 2015 Maryland peak demand.

(b) An electric company may accept project applications after it has accepted 4.55 percent of its 2015 peak demand in MW as measured by the sum of the nameplate capacity of each project's inverter.

(c) An electric company may cease accepting project applications according to the annual percentages listed in §A(2) of this regulation as applied to that company's 2015 peak demand.

(d) An electric company shall allocate annual capacity according to the program category percentages listed in §A(3) of this regulation.

(e) An electric company shall notify the Commission if it intends to accept project applications beyond the level described in §A(4)(a) of this regulation.

(f) An electric company shall combine the capacity of the Small and Open categories if the capacity allocated to the "Open" category is 500 kW or less.

(g) Waitlist.

(i) If a subscriber organization applies to add a project to a category after an electric company has awarded all available capacity in that category, the electric company shall place the project application on a waitlist for the category in the order in which the application was received.

(ii) In years 4 through 7 of the Program, an electric company shall first award project applications in each category from the waitlist for that category before awarding capacity to new project applications.

(iii) A subscriber organization may not change the category of a project on the waitlist.

(iv) An electric company shall remove a project from a category waitlist upon request of the subscriber organization for which the Commission has authorized the project.

(v) A subscriber organization may re-apply to a different category after the electric company has removed a project from a category waitlist.

(5) Unused Annual Capacity.

(a) Electric company capacity in each year which remains unused by projects shall be added to the capacity of the following year such that the total Statewide capacity does not exceed the limit in §A of this regulation.

(b) If a category listed in §A(3) of this regulation has unused capacity at the end of any year of the program, the unused capacity shall be carried forward in the same category to the following year.

(c) Capacity that has remained unused following the sixth year shall be reallocated by the Commission upon good cause shown.

B. Each electric company shall maintain a list of accepted projects and total pilot program capacity in its service territory.

C. Project Lists.

(1) Each electric company shall provide the list in §B of this regulation to the Commission on the first business day after June 30 and December 31 of each year until the pilot is closed.

(2) An electric company that posts on its website the information in §B of this regulation shall be considered to have met the requirements of this section.

D. The Commission may direct electric companies to close the program to new applications if the total Statewide net-metered generation exceeds the limit described in Public Utilities Article, § 7-306(d), Annotated Code of Maryland.

Md. Code Regs. 20.62.02.02

Regulations .02 adopted effective 43:14 Md. R. 781, eff. 7/18/2016; amended effective 47:12 Md. R. 597, eff. 6/15/2020; amended effective 49:6 Md. R.406, eff. 3/21/2022