Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) offers a Commercial and Industrial Grant Program, which provides financial grants for projects that achieve at least 20% electricity savings in commercial and industrial buildings. The program offers grants that cover up to 50% of the project cost after other incentives have been applied. Awards range from $20,000 to $500,000.  Grant application must be submitted to the MEA by December 4, 2015. The Grant winners will be announced on April 2016. The energy efficiency measures must be installed before May 1^st, 2017.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the grant, the project must include at least three energy efficiency measures, achieve a savings of at least 20%, and have a total project cost of at least $40,000. Any commercial, industrial, or non-profit enterprise can apply for grants for buildings located in Maryland. Examples of institutions who can apply include, but not limited to senior living facilities, hotels, supermarkets, office buildings, office buildings, retail buildings, office areas associated industrial plants and others. Public and municipally owned buildings are not eligible for the program. 

Program Description

The program is designed to support upgrades that affect an entire building. Applicants must provide an electricity savings goal of at least 20% for the entire building based on the baseline for whole building’s electricity use. Eligible electricity efficiency measures may include both technology upgrades and operational changes. Operational changes may include staff training, credentialing, retro-commissioning, data analytics and others which must result in measureable energy savings. Operational changes must be combined with technology upgrades. Applicants that are located within utility service territory with an EmPOWER Incentive program must also apply for funding from the utilities. The grant award will be calculated from the remaining project cost after all other incentives are applied.

Projects seeking funding from the program must only initiate construction after a signed agreement with MEA has been executed. Grants will be paid in arrears upon project completion and inspection of the installed equipment. Please visit the program website for more information.