News Stories
Sponsored by Earth Etch. Regulatory insight and compliance solutions for today’s energy markets.
Request for Comments on Workgroups Non-consensus Recommendation in Energy Storage Docket
On June 15, 2026, the Maryland PSC issued a notice of request for comments regarding the Next Generation Energy Act transmission-connected (“NGEAtx”) Obligations Workgroup report that was filed on June 11, 2026.
All comments shall be e-filed by Wednesday, July 1, 2026.
On June 11, 2026 the workgroups filed a non-consensus recommendation to the Commission regarding the proposed Agreement.
As background, the Commission previously initiated a workgroup directing to lead several workgroup meetings with interested stakeholders and attempt to reach consensus on matters involving the establishment of escrow accounts and the standard obligations that a successful applicant would undertake upon Energy Storage Capacity Credit (“ESCC”) award acceptance from the Commission. The workgroup was directed to make recommendations within 90 days potentially culminating in a PC 75 Technical Conference with the Commission regarding decisions on non-consensus matters, if necessary.
In that filling the workgroup notes that “[w]hile many of the issues are near-consensus and more easily addressed, there is significant non-consent in the workgroup about the applicability of Hughes v. Talen Energy Mktg., LLC, 578 U.S. 150 (2016) and the PJM Minimum Price Offer Rule (“MOPR”) to several of the Agreement’s provisions. There is also significant non-consent in the workgroup regarding the treatment of PJM Performance Penalties and Bonuses. I have highlighted these areas of significant non-consent in the Agreement proposal along with footnotes describing these issues and stakeholder viewpoints.”
“Regarding the second escrow account workstream, a recommendation cannot be made at this time as there are many complexities involved that still must be addressed.”
The workgroup recommends that “the Commission establish a Notice in the PC75 docket requesting comments from stakeholders on the proposed Maryland Standardized Agreement for Approval of ESCCs. Although a lower priority at this time, the Commission may also consider requesting comments from stakeholders on their positions for establishing an escrow account for the purpose of coordinating between electric companies and electricity suppliers ESCC purchases and non-bypassable distribution charges. If necessary, the Commission may also consider scheduling a PC 75 Technical Conference to hear directly from stakeholders on these matters.”
As background the electric transmission-connected energy storage parts of the NGEA require the Commission to issue at least two solicitations for a cumulative 1,600 MWs of front-of-the-meter transmission-connected energy storage with each energy storage device having a minimum 4-hour duration. The first 800 MW capacity solicitation must be issued on or before January 1, 2026, and the second 800 MW capacity solicitation must be issued on or before January 1, 2027.
The Commission had retained Power Advisory LLC (“Power Advisory”) to assist the Commission in meeting NGEA requirements.
The NGEA application solicitation process will be handled through Power Advisory’s website developed for the application solicitation process. On October 14, 2025, Power Advisory issued a Request for Information (“RFI”) from prospective applicants that is due October 28, 2025, to guide the development of this process. The RFI can be downloaded from the Maryland Energy Storage Request for Applications website: MDPSC-NGEA-Storage.com.
