Howard County Council considering proposed solar panel pause after state law change

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — Howard County Council’s lone republican council member will introduce a bill Tuesday night that would put a pin in solar panel projects over the next year because of changes at the state level.

As written, it would apply only to those that will produce one megawatt or more of energy.

David Yungmann, District 5, proposed Council Bill 59 to formulate clearer guidance and procedures that changed last year under the Maryland Renewable Energy Certainty Act.

The state law took away regulatory authority from local municipalities and gave it to the state's Public Service Commission for solar projects that produce two or more megawatts of energy. Yungmann claims in his bill, however, that Howard County has since abandoned its conditional use permits process for any solar projects, including ones under that limit.

Meaning, there are currently 15 projects now in various stages of development can proceed without public input or conditions because of it.

“This bill is not intended to revisit the overall solar issue, which a supermajority of the Council and the Executive support,” Yungmann wrote in an email to WMAR-2 News.

“The purpose of this bill is to prevent over a dozen projects from getting built, all in the rural west, without transparent public input and adequate protections for neighboring properties and valuable farmland, with a particular focus on projects that generate between one and two megawatts," he stated.

Howard County has embraced solar as a renewable energy resource. Earlier this year, it became the first “community solar developer” in Maryland.

There has been pushback on individual projects across the county.

The bill, if passed, would make it so the county couldn’t accept or finalize any plans for a solar energy facility that produces more than one megawatt of energy for a year, and the council would not pass any related zoning regulations.

In the meantime, the Department of Planning and Zoning would have a public meeting within 30 days of enactment and a report produced within 120 days.