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New energy plans announced for Baltimore County

Posted at 6:46 PM, Aug 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-29 18:46:41-04

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz sign two new executive orders and made a major solar panel installment announcement Monday to help the county improve its carbon footprint.

The first order is plan to reduce electricity consumption, from county government buildings and street lights, by 15 percent within 5 years. The second order would implement the use of renewable energy resources or displace at least 20 percent of county government electricity consumption by 2022.

With such plans, comes a heavy price tag, but the county will not front the whole bill. Baltimore County was given a $390,000 grant from the Maryland Energy Administration to participate in the Maryland Smart Energy Communities Program.

"This program helps local governments pay for energy conservation and renewable energy projects," Kamenetz said. "It's our intention to be designated as a Maryland Smart Energy community by next year."

Kamenetz also announced the county signed an agreement with SolarCity to install ground panels at four  County-owned properties: the closed Hernwood landfill site in Woodstock, the closed Parkton landfill site, a portion of Mt. Vista Park in Kingsville and a portion of Southwest Area Regional Park in Landsdowne.

The power from those panels will help the county get a reduced rate on its power bill and it projects saving more than $450,000.

SolarCity is expected to completely build three of the four panels by fall of 2017 and the last one in 2018.

 

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