Hyattsville, MD Solar Panels

Maryland’s Property Tax Exemption for solar energy systems ensures that adding solar panels to your home won’t increase your property taxes. When you install solar equipment, it typically increases your home’s value. However, under Maryland law (Tax-Property Article §7-242), this added value from solar energy property is completely exempt from real property tax assessment. This means your property tax bill stays the same as if you never installed solar, even though your home is now worth more.

This exemption applies automatically to any equipment installed to use solar energy to generate electricity for use in your home or to supply to the electric grid, as well as solar thermal systems that provide hot water. There’s no application process required, no cap on the exemption amount, and no expiration date—the tax exemption continues for as long as you own the solar system. This makes solar installation more financially attractive by ensuring you keep the full value of your investment without ongoing tax increases.

Maryland’s sales tax exemption removes the state’s 6% sales tax from the purchase of solar energy equipment and systems. This means when you buy solar panels, inverters, batteries, and other qualifying solar equipment in Maryland, you won’t pay the sales tax that would normally apply to these purchases. For a typical residential solar system costing $25,000, this exemption saves you approximately $1,500 at the time of purchase.

This exemption is available to all Maryland homeowners and businesses purchasing qualifying solar energy equipment. There are no income restrictions, system size limitations, or application requirements—the tax exemption is automatically applied at the point of sale by your solar installer or equipment vendor. The exemption applies to both the equipment itself and the materials needed for installation. Unlike some incentives that require paperwork or rebate applications, this benefit reduces your upfront costs immediately, making solar energy more affordable from day one.

The Maryland Solar Access Program (MSAP) is a state-funded grant program that helps income-qualified Maryland homeowners install solar panels on their homes. Established through the Brighter Tomorrow Act of 2024, this program provides direct financial assistance to eligible residents who want to power their homes with solar energy. The program operates on a first-come, first-served basis and uses a two-step application process: first, you reserve funding, then you verify installation completion.

The program has a total budget of $12 million for fiscal year 2026. Grant amounts vary based on individual circumstances, and you can use the program’s Maximum Offer Calculator to estimate your potential benefit. To qualify, you must meet specific income requirements detailed in the program’s Funding Opportunity Announcement. Your solar system must be installed by an approved contractor from the program’s Participating Contractor List, and your contract must be executed between June 13, 2025, and the program deadline.

Applications are accepted from July 21, 2025, through June 5, 2026 at 12:00 PM ET. Important note: if your solar system has already received funding from Maryland’s Solar Energy Equity Grant Program, it is not eligible for this program. The application process is managed through an online portal where you can track your application status. As of November 4, 2025, 52% of the program budget has been requested and 23% has been reserved, so funding is still available but may be limited as the program year progresses.

Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) are tradable certificates that represent the environmental benefits of solar energy production. For every 1,000 kilowatt-hours (1 megawatt-hour) your solar system generates, you earn one SREC. These credits exist because Maryland law requires energy suppliers to obtain a certain percentage of their power from solar sources—14.5% by 2030. When suppliers can’t generate enough solar energy themselves, they purchase SRECs from homeowners like you to meet their legal requirements.

The financial value of SRECs fluctuates based on market demand, and you have several options for monetizing them. You can sell your SRECs directly to energy suppliers, work with an SREC aggregator who sells them on your behalf as part of a larger group, or hold onto them for up to 3 years in hopes of a better price. For example, a typical 10-kilowatt residential system producing 12,000 kilowatt-hours annually would generate 12 SRECs per year. The actual dollar amount you receive depends on current market rates, which change over time.

To participate, you must register your solar system with the Maryland Public Service Commission within 30 days of installation, then sign up with PJM Interconnection’s Generator Attribute Tracking System (GATS) to track and manage your credits. One important consideration: if you sell your SRECs, you’re transferring the environmental claim to the buyer—meaning you can no longer say you’re using solar energy yourself. If maintaining that personal environmental impact matters to you, you can choose to keep your SRECs rather than sell them. Either way, your solar system benefits Maryland’s clean energy goals.

Net metering in Maryland allows you to receive full retail credit for the excess solar energy your system sends back to the electric grid. When your solar panels produce more electricity than your home uses, that surplus energy flows to the grid, and you receive a credit on your electric bill at a 1:1 rate. This means every kilowatt-hour (kWh) you send to the grid offsets one kWh you would otherwise purchase from your utility company at the full retail rate.

Here’s how it works throughout the year: excess credits accumulate on your bill from month to month on a per-kWh basis, helping you offset electricity costs during months when your solar production is lower. However, the way these credits are handled at year-end varies by utility company. Most Maryland utilities—including Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E), Pepco, Potomac Edison, Delmarva Power, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO), and Choptank Electric Cooperative—conduct an annual “true-up” where any remaining excess credits are cashed out at a lower rate, typically between $0.04 and $0.07 per kWh. This true-up happens in April or May depending on your utility, and your account resets to zero afterward.

All Maryland homeowners with solar systems are eligible for net metering, regardless of system size, as long as they’re connected to one of the participating utility companies. One important consideration: if you’re a BG&E customer, the three time-of-use (TOU) rate schedules are not compatible with net metering, so you’ll need to remain on a standard rate plan. To maximize your savings, it’s helpful to size your solar system to match your annual electricity usage as closely as possible, since excess generation at year-end is valued at a significantly lower rate than the retail credits you receive throughout the year.