TKPK Awarded $125,000 Grant from Maryland Energy Admin.'s Public Facilities Solar Grant (PFSG) Program
In June 2024, the City of Takoma Park was awarded a $125,000 grant from the Maryland Energy Administration under the Public Facilities Solar Grant (PFSG) Program. This funding will be used to install solar panels on the new Takoma Park Maryland Library. The PFSG Program is designed to promote solar energy generation at public facilities and demonstrate government support for clean and renewable energy technologies. The Maryland Energy Administration enacted the program to encourage the generation of solar energy at public facilities and to demonstrate government support of clean and renewable energy generation technology.
The City of Takoma Park has been an early adopter of solar and installed solar PV on all suitable municipal rooftops. The rooftop array on the City’s Community Center and Public Works was completed in 2011 as part of a power purchase agreement (PPA) with installer Solar Solution LLC. The agreement provided the City with clean electricity and a set price for 20 years and enabled the City to access solar power for no upfront cost and at a lower price per kilowatt than charged by energy provider PEPCO. Approximately 99,412 kWh is generated each year with solar panels on the Community Center building and Public Works, and the City purchases wind renewable energy certificates (RECs) to cover the remainder of the utility-provided electricity, about 1.8 M kWh each year.
The new panels funded under this grant will not be part of a PPA but rather owned by the City, which will enable it to benefit from the RECs directly as well as very low-cost electricity. Additionally, any committed matching funds by the City for this project will be eligible for to the new Elective Pay allowance from the IRS, which allows state and local governments to benefit directly from the new Clean Electricity Production Tax Credit made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
The proposed expansion of the solar panel system on the new library roof will involve the installation of approximately 162 new panels with a projected system capacity of 64.8 KW. The new system is projected to offset the equivalent of 32.7 metric tonnes of CO2 in its first year of operation and represents a substantial effort in the City’s climate goals to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 100% by the year 2035.
The City is currently awaiting the state’s a grant agreement, and the opportunity to bid for vendors will go out later this year. Installation is expected to run concurrently with the completion of the new library, anticipated in summer 2025.
