By Sara Michael — Tax credits for solar energy units and incentives for sustainable building materials have Maryland homeowners and businesses alike taking a closer look at going green. For the area businesses developing alternative energy technology, this trend translates into a strong customer base and an attractive landscape to grow.

“There’s a lot of new movement and that encourages companies to come in,” said Rick Harris, executive director of the MdTech Division of the Tech Council of Maryland.

“They know they can do business here and will get a good long look from government in terms of business breaks and profile. There’s a definite incentive to that. It’s attracting a number of companies,” said Harris.

Just as businesses between Baltimore and Washington have moved to adopt green building techniques and alternative energy, so too have alternative energy entrepreneurs taken advantage of Maryland’s pro-green priorities.

“The incentive climate here is good,” said Rick Peters, president of Solar Energy Services, an Annapolis-based solar energy provider that recently announced its selection to install a solar water heating system in the Maryland Governor’s mansion in Annapolis. Solar Energy Services, which is a 4-year-old company, is now up to eight employees.

Tax credits offered by five Maryland counties sweeten the deal for residents looking to install such a system, which Peters says is three times more efficient than solar electric systems. Although the technology has been around for decades, the tax incentives are stoking the rising interest.

Peters added, “Maryland has a relatively high awareness of environmental and energy issues.”

For Wavebob Ltc, an Irish company that harnesses wave energy, it wasn't the strength of the nearby Atlantic Ocean that attracted the company to Annapolis, where Wavebob opened its North American operations in Annapolis last May. In fact, waves worth harnessing energy from are off the West Coast and Hawaii, but Maryland had more to offer in its ability to support the growing market, said Derek Robertson, president of Wavebob LLC, the North American arm.

“I think [the wave resource] is small potatoes compared to manufacturing potential for supporting global markets,” he said. “That's the basis for our interest in the U.S.”

Companies in Anne Arundel, Howard and Montgomery counties are also benefitting from the proximity to the federal government, which is propagating new technologies, said Michael Bakas, vice president of renewables for Ameresco, an energy solutions company with an office in Columbia.

“The green market will continue to grow, to some extent because of the a push by the federal government to bring some technologies to the marketplace,” he said.

The interest in green energy technology has also boosted businesses like Clean Currents, a Rockville-based sales and marketing firm. In the deregulated energy markets in Maryland and Washington, D.C., Clean Currents works with companies to help them switch to green energy.

The deregulation and the pro-green energy policies – along with consumer awareness – make it an ideal spot for growth, said Gary Skulnik, president of Clean Currents.

“Consumers in this region are very sophisticated, educated people,” he said. “There's a real hunger for clean energy.”

Maryland’s green incentives

• A tax credit worth up to 8 percent of the total cost of the building for the construction of green building. Buildings must be located in a priority funding area and be at least 20,000 square feet.
• A bio-heating oil tax credit provides 3 cents per gallon up to $500 for corporations that purchase biofuel, which is manufactured from vegetable oil or animal fats, for space and water heating.
• Funding for solar photovoltaic or solar hot water systems. For example, solar photovoltaic installers may receive $1.25/watt for the first 2,000 watts (and 75 cents or 25 cents for subsequent watts) of capacity up to $10,000, and solar hot water systems are eligible for 30 percent of the installed cost up to $2,000.
• Up to $10,000 to install certain geothermal heat pumps

Source: Maryland Energy Administration

— October 2009 print edition

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