Maryland opens a closed auction for grid batteries of at least 20 MWh and four hours - this round is up to $100 million, the bid cap is hidden, and a net-metered roof is off the generation line
On 26 October 2026 the Maryland Energy Administration issued the Megawatts for Maryland funding notice. A battery bid is at least 20 MWh-ac and four hours. Generation on this notice is at least 5 MW-ac and stays off net metering. A battery may sit beside net-metered solar. This round is up to $100 million. A grant runs from $1 million to $80 million. A bid above an unpublished cap is out. Stage 1 closes at 3:00 PM Eastern on 30 November 2026. The governor's office calls the two-year program $200 million.
A factory owner who hears of a large solar-and-battery fund in Maryland is looking at a grant for grid-scale plants. The price is a bid. A small roof is under the size line.
On 26 October 2026 the Maryland Energy Administration issued the funding notice for Megawatts for Maryland, fiscal year 2027. It is a closed auction. Bidders do not see each other's prices. Grants go to eligible bidders who request the lowest price. The grant offsets a portion of development, construction and interconnection costs. The money is paid when the project reaches commercial operation, and after the other conditions in the grant agreement.
Three pages, three money lines. The notice anticipates up to $100 million from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund for grants under this program, and says the total awarded may be more or less. The administration's program page allocates up to $200 million for two fiscal years, with up to $100 million for fiscal year 2027 and an additional $100 million anticipated for fiscal year 2028. Governor Wes Moore's office, the same day, calls it a $200 million program over two years, drawing on up to $100 million a year. On that press page, House Speaker Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk describes this $100 million investment as a competitive process to bring new solar generation online. That sentence does not mention a battery.
The size floors, in the notice. A battery project is at least 20 MWh-ac, with a discharge duration of at least 4 hours. MWh-ac is the notice's unit for battery energy, in megawatt-hours of alternating current. A Tier 1 renewable project, solar included, is at least 5 MW-ac of nameplate capacity. 20 divided by 4 is 5, by our arithmetic. The notice does not print 5 MW on the battery line. The 5 MW-ac figure is the generation floor.
Net metering is the arrangement where leftover roof power goes out through the meter. Tier 1 generation that will use net metering is outside this notice. The notice's examples include community solar in the Maryland community solar program. A battery may be standalone, with no renewable plant beside it. It may sit with Tier 1 generation that does not net meter. It may also sit with Tier 1 generation that does net meter. A hybrid bid, generation plus battery, is in when each part meets its own floor on its own.
Where it sits. The project is in Maryland. It seeks a connection to the PJM transmission system or to a utility distribution system. It has site control, a regulatory process has started, and it has not reached substantial completion. The notice defines those stages in later sections.
Who can file. Businesses, and electric companies as defined in the state's public utilities law. Outside the notice: nonprofit organizations, state agencies, county and municipal governments, federal or foreign governments, local education agencies, and institutions of higher education. An electric company that would recover the battery's capacity costs in its rate base, or that already has approval to do that, is outside the notice for that project.
The bid. The price is dollars per megawatt-hour of alternating current expected to be delivered to the grid over the commercial life of the project. A calculator on the notice turns that price into a requested grant. A bid above an undisclosed maximum is out. The grant itself runs from $1 million to $80 million, unless the administration increases the maximum. The cap on the bid price is not a published number.
The clock, on the notice. Stage 1 closes at 3:00 PM Eastern on 30 November 2026. Stage 2, the binding bid, closes at 3:00 PM Eastern on 22 January 2027. Award or non-award is anticipated in spring 2027. The program page prints the same dates and does not print the 3:00 PM line.
A figure that is easy to paste onto the wrong line. The governor's office says the program aims to add hundreds of megawatts, enough to power more than 150,000 Maryland homes a year. Those figures are on the press page. They are not in the funding notice. They are not a factory invoice.
The fill. A standalone battery can bid with no solar beside it. The grant is a payment tied to megawatt-hours delivered to the grid. The notice does not print what it costs to fill that battery, and it does not print a gas-plant comparison. A battery holds only what solar or the grid puts in. An earlier note covered workplace batteries funded by a company that shares the bill saving. This page is a state grant for grid-scale projects. A battery under 20 MWh-ac, or under four hours, is outside it.
Analogy: the state is collecting sealed bids for large plants. The envelope with the lowest price wins a grant. A tank under 20 megawatt-hours does not go in the pile.
Good: A public notice with a date, a budget line, size floors, a bid unit, a grant range, a hidden price cap, and two other pages that do not copy every dollar figure.
Bad: No clearing price, because the auction has not run. The maximum bid price is undisclosed. The $100 million line and the $200 million line are not the same sentence. A net-metered roof cannot take the generation grant. A battery beside that roof still faces the 20 MWh and four-hour floors. Payment waits on commercial operation.
Ugly: Reading $200 million as cash off a workplace invoice. Reading the Speaker's $100 million solar sentence as a battery price. Treating hundreds of megawatts, or 150,000 homes, as a plant this program has already contracted. Dividing 20 MWh by 4 hours and calling 5 MW a battery size the notice printed. Pasting the grant onto a battery smaller than 20 MWh-ac.
Soft next step: if a quote borrows this auction for a workplace roof, the battery floor is 20 MWh and four hours, and the generation line leaves net metering out.
Source: Maryland Energy Administration, funding notice issued 26 Oct 2026 - Megawatts for Maryland, fiscal year 2027. Primary for the 26 October 2026 issue date, a closed auction that awards grants to eligible bidders requesting the lowest price, grants offsetting a portion of development, construction and interconnection costs, payment when the project reaches commercial operation and meets the other grant conditions, up to $100 million anticipated from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund with the total awarded possibly more or less, battery projects of at least 20 MWh-ac and at least 4 hours, Tier 1 generation of at least 5 MW-ac, net-metered Tier 1 generation left out, batteries allowed as standalone or beside Tier 1 generation that does or does not net meter, a hybrid bid only when each part meets its own floor, location in Maryland with a connection sought to the PJM transmission system or a utility distribution system, site control and a started regulatory process and no substantial completion yet, applicants limited to businesses and electric companies, and nonprofit organizations, state agencies, county and municipal governments, federal or foreign governments, local education agencies and higher-education institutions left out, the rate-base bar for an electric company's battery capacity costs, a bid in dollars per megawatt-hour of alternating current over the project's commercial life, an undisclosed maximum bid price, a grant from $1 million to $80 million unless the administration increases the maximum, Stage 1 at 3:00 PM Eastern on 30 November 2026, Stage 2 at 3:00 PM Eastern on 22 January 2027, and an anticipated award notice in spring 2027. 20 divided by 4 equals 5 is our arithmetic. The notice does not print 5 MW on the battery line. Maryland Energy Administration, Megawatts for Maryland program page. Primary for up to $200 million across two fiscal years, up to $100 million for fiscal year 2027, an additional $100 million anticipated for fiscal year 2028, awards to the lowest price per megawatt-hour, the 26 October 2026 issue date, and Stage 1 on 30 November 2026 and Stage 2 on 22 January 2027 without the 3:00 PM line. Office of Governor Wes Moore, 26 Oct 2026. Primary for a $200 million program over two years, up to $100 million a year, an aim of hundreds of megawatts and enough power for more than 150,000 Maryland homes a year, and House Speaker Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk's description of this $100 million investment as a competitive process to bring new solar generation online. That sentence does not mention a battery. The press page does not print the 20 MWh floor, the four-hour floor, the $1 million and $80 million grant band, or the undisclosed bid cap.