randallstownnaccp@gmail.com.(Courtesy photo)
By Ryan Coleman
Special to the AFRO
Maryland consumes about 40 percent more electricity than it generates. The extra supply of more than 200 trillion BTU of electricity, annually, is delivered to the state over the PJM Interconnection regional grid. And the amount imported is growing dramatically.
In 2022, the 1970s-era two-reactor Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant, located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, accounted for about 39 percent of the state’s total in-state electricity generation, which saved the state’s broken, publicly mandated utility system. Natural gas generation (which has more than tripled since 2015, as nearly 2,600 megawatts of new natural gas generating capacity came online) accounted for about 36 percent of in-state electricity generation. Coal-fired generating plants had historically supplied more than half the state’s generation, but coal’s share has been below 50 percent since 2012 and was at about 12 percent in 2022. Maryland’s two remaining coal power plants, Brandon Shores and Wagner (with a combined generating capacity of nearly 2,200 megawatts), intend to shut down by June 2025.
Solar energy, wind and biomass energy sources are increasing but will not at any reasonable time replace that capacity or energy density. So, the state will import more electricity. The largest renewable electricity source available on the grid – not including hydroelectric dams– is landfill gas, which is an inelastic supply. Since 2022, there is arguably more solar power generated, but nearly two-thirds of Maryland’s solar generation came from small-scale, customer-sited solar, such as residential rooftop solar panels, which do not contribute in any meaningful way to the grid. Public officials often deflect questions about the failed renewable policies by pointing to the state’s proposed multi-billion-dollar offshore wind boondoggle, but few expect that ocean construction to happen soon enough.
The Maryland General Assembly has passed legislation to reduce by 60 percent its output of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2031. The Climate Pollution Reduction Plan was a roadmap to achieve climate goals and a path to reach net zero emissions by 2045, setting the tone for environmental and energy decision-making throughout the state. However, the legislation did not spur new ways of electricity production. The problem with this roadmap is that it miscalculates the load growth in electricity use, the disruption to the reliability of our electric supply and higher costs to all ratepayers, including Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Delaware.
The City of Baltimore is served primarily by a coal-fired thermal electric generation facility known as Brandon Shores. Brandon Shores and the nearby Wagner facility supply approximately 2,200 megawatts of thermal electricity to PJM, the organization designated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to manage the mid-Atlantic power grid and the safe and reliable flow of electricity for 65 million people from Chicago to Philadelphia and many places in between.
Talen Energy, the owner of Brandon Shores, had been discussing the conversion of the facility from coal to oil. In mid-2023, unbeknownst to PJM, Talen entered into an agreement with the Sierra Club to close Brandon Shores in June 2025, taking enough electricity to power about 2 million homes from the grid.
PJM analyses show that without proper upgrades, the deactivation of Brandon Shores would cause a severe voltage drop across seven PJM zones, leading to a widespread reliability risk not only in Maryland but in the surrounding zones including Northern Virginia, the District of Columbia, Delaware and Pennsylvania.
Maryland and the City of Baltimore don’t exist in a vacuum, and they will still need electricity. To replace the production at Brandon Shores with solar, it would require a minimum of 15,400 acres of solar panels or about 1,400 windmills. There are no such projects underway. The only answer for Maryland, short of shuttering the City of Baltimore, is to import the electric power needed to replace the capacity of Brandon Shores from generation states like Pennsylvania.
To import more electricity into Maryland from other generation facilities requires approximately $800 million worth of upgrades and new construction to high-voltage power lines throughout Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. The cost of the upgrades will be passed onto ratepayers in the areas where the upgrades are made. The crux of the problem, however, is that the upgrades will not be completed until sometime in 2028.
The real question is what happens to Maryland and the City of Baltimore for those three years between the announced closure date of June 2025 and the necessary transmission line upgrades which are projected to be completed in 2028? PJM has requested a voluntary agreement to delay the proposed shutdown to allow time to bring replacement power online. So far, that effort has been rejected. Maryland or the City of Baltimore must understand the dilemma they are in and just how rapidly this disaster is approaching.
The Maryland General Assembly must take the following actions immediately:
1. Delay the closure of the Brandon Shore and Wagner coal facilities until 2030;
2. Accelerate the growth of renewables (solar, wind, etc.) by addressing key barriers, such as permitting and grid integration challenges, social acceptance issues, inconsistent policy approaches, and insufficient remuneration;
3. Put in place more incentives and rebates for homeowners to go solar;
4. Fast track the Maryland Offshore Wind Project Construction and Operations Plan (COP);
5. Allow BGE to build a third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs, which could provide a large amount of electricity with little global warming or health-threatening pollution.
The knee-jerk reaction to move to so-called “green energy” is occurring without considering the ramifications of what powers our daily lives. For many years, we have become accustomed to flipping a switch and our lights come on. That reliability rests solely on thermal generation that can be brought online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year without regard to weather, time of day, or duration. The inevitable fact is that as we introduce more of the so-called renewable electric generation – which is intermittent and of limited duration – into the grid, the more the grid will become intermittent and of limited duration. If the above actions and other actions are not taken, Maryland will begin to have rolling black outs as early as this summer.
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