Governor Martin O’Malley announced on December 14 that the State of Maryland and the Maryland Energy Administration have reached a settlement with Exelon Corporation and Constellation Energy. The terms must be approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission by January 5 for the merger of Exelon and Constellation, the parent company of Baltimore Gas and Electric, to go through.
The Governor played hardball for months with Chicago based Exelon, and came away with over $1 billion in promised investment into the Maryland economy. Exelon has agreed to provide Maryland with:
- 120 MW of new natural gas generation
- 125 MW of land-based wind generation
- 30 MW of solar generation
- $30 million investment in the state’s offshore wind development fund
- $2 million to Maryland public universities fund wind energy research
- $90 million towards development of the State’s planned 10 MW of animal-waste fueled generation
- PSC retains jurisdiction to spin off BGE in certain instances in the future, including Exelon bankruptcy, nuclear accident, or repeated violation of PSC Orders
- $50 million for approximately 12,500 weatherization improvements for low to moderate income families
- $10 million to provide assistance to 22,000 families in paying their electricity bills
- Creation of over 6,000 jobs in Maryland
Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network said, “Governor O’Malley has achieved fairness for ratepayers and a big leap forward for the environment with this agreement. Future Marylanders will look back on this date as a real turning point for clean air and the fight against global warming.”
Photo credit: Jay Baker. Used under Creative Commons license