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Maryland

Solar permitting — Calvert County, Maryland

FIPS 24009

1454 indexed meetings (65 energy-related), 9 news items, 10 known opposition groups.

Calvert County, MD

Compliance: ModerateSolar ordinance on fileTrajectory: StableSaturation: Low

Chesapeake Bay peninsula; Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant; SMECO territory; limited interior land; Bay Critical A. Permitting: County Board of Appeals/Board of Commissioners: Special Exception or Conditional Use Permi; 150-ft max / 100-…

Key driver: Chesapeake Bay peninsula; Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant; SMECO territory; limited interior land; Bay Critical Area restricts coastal areas; moderate solar market

Permitting process

Local permitting pathway

County Board of Appeals/Board of Commissioners: Special Exception or Conditional Use Permit in applicable zoning district.

Setbacks & buffers

State floor per HB1036/SB931 (eff. Jul 1 2025): ≤100 ft from property lines; ≤150 ft from non-participating residences. No county-specific setbacks above state floor.

Spacing requirements

None codified

Size restrictions

None codified; managed via CUP/SUP conditions

Penalties & bonding

No penalties or adjustments. Standard CUP/SUP process.

State-level permits & approvals

Local county zoning permit: conditional use or special exception at county level; no uniform statewide solar permitting standard. PPRP (Power Plant Research Program, MD DNR): environmental review for generating facilities ≥70 MW; PSC CPCN required for projects ≥70 MW. Projects <70 MW: county-level permitting only. No statewide preemption of local solar ordinances. Net metering: systems up to 2 MW (residential up to 2× annual load). All MD in PJM territory. Maryland has the largest solar carve-out in the U.S. at 14.5% by 2028 (MD Code, PUC §7-703).

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Full permitting requirements

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State policy & grid context

State RPS & clean energy policy

50% by 2030 (14.5% solar carve-out) | Clean Energy Jobs Act (2019) + CESA (2022) | Md. Code Ann. PUA §7-703

State incentive programs

Maryland Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS): 50% by 2030; solar carve-out 14.5% by 2028 — drives strong SREC demand. Maryland SREC market: PSC-administered; ~$50-80/SREC 2023-2024 for Tier 1 Maryland SRECs. Maryland Solar Access Program (Brighter Tomorrow Act 2024): $750/kW up to $7,500 for income-qualifying residential customers. Maryland Community Solar: community solar program active statewide. Maryland PSC: approval required for utility-owned solar; IPP projects via county/local process. Utility: BGE (Eversource) serves Baltimore metro; Pepco serves Montgomery/PG County; Delmarva Power serves Eastern Shore; SMECO serves Southern MD; Potomac Edison (FirstEnergy) serves western MD.

Grid & interconnection

PJM / SMECO transmission zone

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Full state policy & grid detail

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Battery storage (BESS) P1 State-Default Permitting

No confirmed county BESS ordinance.

Local BESS ordinances & bylaws

No county BESS ordinance on file; link points to the county zoning code. Governing body: Calvert County, Maryland — Board of County Commissioners / De

County-level battery-storage status, safety requirements, and projects — each linked to a primary source.

Community opposition P1 10 tracked

Organized opposition signals on record for this county — petitions, community groups, and oppositional coverage — each linked to its primary source.

Calvert County's data center moratorium may be off the ... Data center2026-06-14 · facebook.com · social · may require login
Calvert Commissioners Put A Data Center Moratorium Vote Back On the Agenda – Sort Of Data center2026-06-13 · thebaynet.com
Calvert County begins formal process to explore moratorium on data‑center approvals after AWS briefing General2026-06-13 · citizenportal.ai
Calvert County Strikes Down Data Center Moratorium In 2-3 Vote Data center2026-06-13 · thebaynet.com
Data center moratorium shot down in Calvert on split vote Data center2026-06-13 · somdnews.com
How would a data center help Calvert citizens? Data center2026-06-13 · somdnews.com
Petition · Pause Data Centers in Calvert County: Support a Moratorium (10,000 Signatures Needed) Data center2026-06-13 · change.org · petition
Oppose data centers in Calvert County Data center2026-06-13 · facebook.com · social · may require login
Southern MD county finds itself in the middle of a data center fight Data center2026-06-13 · thedailyrecord.com
St. Mary's excluded from data center conversation as Calvert, Charles mull ideas Data center2026-06-13 · somdnews.com

SitePath maintains the most complete community-opposition dataset available, refreshed continuously from primary sources.

Subscriber intel Subscribers

Researched for this county and available with a subscription:

🔒Project track record
🔒Developer intelligence
🔒Community & board sentiment
🔒Governing board
🔒Sentiment rollup

Energy-related meetings & dockets P1

30 energy-related1454 total in calendar30 data center

Halo color = sentiment of the relevant agenda excerpt: green positive, yellow neutral, red negative.

2026-08-18 County Board
Data Center
Calvert County Planning & Zoning Department proposed a six-month moratorium on data center projects.
agenda
2026-08-10 Other
Data Center
Review and approval of a public comment statement regarding a data center moratorium.
agenda
2026-07-21 County Board
Data Center
Calvert County discussed a data center project, but no specific action was taken.
agenda

2026-07-13 Utility Board
Data Center
Data Center Updates… November Meeting g.
agenda
2026-06-16 County Board
Data Center
Department of Planning & Zoning: Requested Moratorium on Data Center Projects VIII.
agenda
2026-06-16 County Board
Data Center
From: Melissa Emmal <melissaemmal@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2026 7:24 AM To: Commissioners Subject: Public Record Submission - Petition in Support of Data Center Moratorium June 16, 2026 meeting Attachments: petition_comments_jobs_
agenda · minutes
2026-06-02 County Board
Data Center
Department of Planning & Zoning: Proposed Text Amendment #26-23 – Data Center Memo from Jennifer Moreland, Director Memorandum of Understanding Memo from Ricky Cox, Sheriff Memo from Jennifer Moreland, Director Application Budget Recipient
agenda
2026-05-27 Other
Data Center
County officials considered the final draft of a data center development proposal.
agenda
2026-05-27 Other
Data Center
The county approved the final draft of the data center development proposal.
agenda
2026-05-18 Other
Data Center
The Planning Commission approved a special-use permit application for a 150 MW solar farm.
agenda
2026-05-18 Other
Data Center
The Planning Commission voted to deny a special-use permit application for a 150 MW solar farm.
agenda
2026-04-27 Other
Data Center
The Planning Commission voted to deny a special-use permit application for a 150 MW solar farm.
agenda
2026-04-21 Other
Data Center
Planning Commission approved the proposed Text Amendment #26-23 - Data Center Conditions
agenda
2026-04-15 Planning Commission
Data Center
The Planning Commission approved the Data Center Recommendation from the Environmental Commission.
agenda
2026-04-15 Planning Commission
Data Center
The Planning Commission approved the Data Center Recommendation.
agenda
2026-04-15 Other
Data Center
Calvert County Planning Commission approved a special-use permit application for a 150 MW solar farm
agenda
2026-04-07 County Board
Data Center
Board of County Commissioners approved the proposed moratorium on data center projects
agenda
2026-04-02 Other
Data Center
The Planning Commission approved a special-use permit application for a 150 MW solar farm.
agenda
2026-04-02 Other
Data Center
The Commission approved the letter recommending a 150 MW solar farm data center project
agenda
2026-03-30 Other
Data Center
The County Admin approved the data center project
agenda
2026-03-30 Other
Data Center
The Data Center Discussion item was discussed and voted on by the Planning Commission.
agenda
2026-03-24 County Board
Data Center
The Department of Economic Development presented a proposal for a data center and regional park in Calvert County.
agenda
2026-03-24 County Board
Data Center
The Planning Commission voted to deny a special-use permit application for a 150 MW solar farm due to concerns about data center development
agenda · minutes
2026-03-18 Planning Commission
Data Center
The Planning Commission voted to approve the proposed text amendment to the Calvert County Zoning Ordinance regarding the data center project.
agenda
2026-03-17 County Board
Data Center
The Calvert County Data Center Project was discussed and approved by the Planning Commission
agenda · minutes
2026-03-10 County Board
Data Center
The Board will consider a proposed data center zoning amendment.
agenda · minutes
2026-03-09 County Board
Data Center
The Board of County Commissioners voted to approve the proposed Text Amendment #26-23 to the Calvert County Zoning Ordinance regarding Data Center Conditions.
agenda
2026-03-03 County Board
Data Center
The Maryland Historical Trust approved a permit application for a data center project in Calvert County
agenda · minutes
2026-03-02 Other
Data Center
The Planning Commission voted to deny a special-use permit application for a 150 MW solar farm.
agenda
2026-03-02 Other
Data Center
The Planning Commission voted to deny a special-use permit application for a 150 MW solar farm
agenda

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27 more energy-related meetings

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State PSC dockets P1

No tracked activity yet — coverage expands weekly.

Local news P3

2026-08-19 Calvert County Commissioners Unanimously Pass 6 Month Data Center Moratoriumfox5dc.com
2026-08-16 Data Centers Wish Listbaltimoresun.com
2026-06-24 Data Center Elections Republicanscsmonitor.com

2026-05-05 Maryland County Moratorium Data Centersthedailyrecord.com
2026-04-21 Maryland Ratepayer Energy Bill Nuclear Subsidyinsideclimatenews.org
2026-04-19 Constellation Energy Ceg Asserts Dominance 211523753yahoo.com
2026-04-17 Constellation Energy Ceg Asserts Dominance On Clean Energy With Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Upgrades 1740049insidermonkey.com
2026-03-10 Marylands Main Energy Producer Is Growing But Concerns About Nuclear Energy Remainbaltimorefishbowl.com
2026-03-09 Marylands Main Energy Producer Is Nuclear And Growing But Concerns About Nuclear Energy Remainmarylandreporter.com

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6 more news items

Full records for this county are part of a SitePath subscription.

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Data sources: public agendas/minutes from local government sites; PSC dockets from state regulators; news from GDELT and curated RSS; sentiment derived from public meeting transcripts. Last refreshed 2026-08-21. See the county risk scorecard or the full Maryland permitting index.