Solar in Maryland

Maryland's policy stack is unusually favorable and, crucially, codified in statute rather than fragile commission rule. Full retail net metering is established under Public Utilities §7-306, crediting exported solar at the full retail rate with an annual true-up for residential systems. Customers retain this treatment for the life of their interconnection, and the aggregate cap has historically been raised before binding, so the policy environment is more stable than in states where net metering is under active rollback.

The Maryland SREC market is the second pillar. The state's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard creates a solar carve-out that obligates utilities to buy Solar Renewable Energy Credits; as the original SREC-I market filled, Maryland opened a SREC-II tier to continue the program. A residential system earns one SREC for every megawatt-hour it produces, whether that energy is consumed on-site or exported, and those credits are sold through PJM-GATS brokers or aggregators at a floating spot price. This is a genuine additional revenue stream on top of the net-metering offset, and it is unique to a handful of states.

The federal picture requires care in 2026. The Section 25D Residential Clean Energy Credit — the 30% personal credit that long drove residential solar economics — expired on December 31, 2025, so an owned residential system installed in 2026 does not qualify for it. Any installer quoting a 30% federal credit on a 2026 owned-residential system is mistaken or misleading. The Section 48E Investment Tax Credit remains available at 30% for leased and PPA arrangements, commercial properties, and rentals that begin construction before July 4, 2026, with possible 10% energy-community and 10% domestic-content bonuses. Maryland also exempts residential solar from real property tax reassessment, so the improvement does not raise county taxes. Sales tax (6%) still applies to equipment.

Maryland averages about 4.6 peak sun hours per day — modest by Sun Belt standards but more than enough to make rooftop solar highly productive when each kilowatt-hour is worth 35.85 cents. The Interstate 95 corridor from Baltimore through the D.C. suburbs sits near the state average, while the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland run slightly higher and the western mountains around Frederick and Hagerstown a touch lower. Annual output is concentrated in the long days of May through August, with a real winter dip, but the high value of each kilowatt-hour means even shoulder-season production displaces expensive power.

The savings math at Maryland's current rate is dramatic. A 10 kW south-facing array tilted near latitude produces roughly 14,000 kilowatt-hours per year (NREL PVWatts, typical for the region). At 35.85 c/kWh, that is about $5,019 of avoided electricity spending annually — before counting any SREC income. A smaller 8 kW system still generates around 11,500 kWh, worth roughly $4,100 a year. Because Maryland maintains full 1:1 retail net metering with an annual true-up, surplus produced on long summer days is banked at the full retail rate and drawn back on short winter evenings, so overproduction is not penalized the way it is under California's NEM 3.0.

Optimal sizing in Maryland therefore leans toward maximizing annual kilowatt-hours rather than peak-shaving. A south-facing array at 20-30 degrees of tilt captures the most annual energy, and sizing 100-120% of annual consumption is sensible to hedge against the rate increases that are expected to continue. Households planning to add an electric vehicle or a heat pump should size upward, because each additional offset kilowatt-hour is worth more than almost anywhere else in the country.

Maryland's installed cost runs about $3.30 per watt, close to the national average, with a typical 8 kW system landing near $26,400 before incentives and a 10 kW system around $31,300-$33,000 depending on equipment and installer. The federal incentive landscape shifted sharply for 2026: the Section 25D residential credit that previously returned 30% expired on December 31, 2025, so an owned residential system placed in service in 2026 no longer qualifies for the federal credit. The Section 48E Investment Tax Credit still provides 30% for leased, PPA, commercial, and rental systems that begin construction before July 4, 2026, with the developer claiming it and passing the benefit through as lower monthly payments.

Even without the federal credit, the payback math is exceptional purely because of the rate. A 10 kW system at roughly $33,000, generating about $5,019 in annual savings, recovers its cost in around 6.6 years on energy savings alone — faster than most states manage with the full 30% federal credit stacked in. Layer in Maryland SREC-II income (a separate payment per megawatt-hour produced, sold through PJM-GATS brokers) and the timeline tightens further. An 8 kW system at $26,400 saves roughly $4,100 a year and pays back in about 6.4 years.

The comparison to the national picture is stark. Most states land in the 9-15 year payback range; Maryland's combination of the country's #2 electricity rate, full retail net metering, and an active SREC market puts it among the fastest-payback solar markets in the United States — likely the fastest outside of markets with special buyback plans. The principal risk to the math is not cost or sun, it is whether retail rates stay this high; if they do, the case is close to unarguable.