SB 683

I am in full support of SB 683!

What SB 683 Is About…

• Primary goal: Encourage responsible solar development while helping protect productive agricultural land, especially within Maryland’s Priority Preservation Areas — zones that are set aside to safeguard farmland and open space.
• It’s framed to balance solar energy expansion with farmland preservation by shaping where large solar projects can be counted toward statewide limits.

Key Provisions

1. Credit Toward Solar Limits:
   Counties can credit solar energy generating stations located on non-agricultural or underutilized sites — like brownfields, school rooftops/fields, or other unused land — toward the 5 % acreage cap on solar installations in Priority Preservation Areas.
2. Protecting Priority Preservation Areas:
   — Maryland currently limits the total land in these preservation areas that may be used for solar to 5 % of the area.
   — SB 683 allows counties to count solar on less sensitive land toward this limit, so developers aren’t pushed to put panels on productive farmland just to meet renewable goals.
3. Encouraging Smart Siting:
   The bill aims to avoid siting large solar projects directly on prime agricultural soils by incentivizing alternative locations that don’t compete with active farmland.

Broader Context

• The legislation is part of a larger policy debate about how Maryland meets its clean energy and climate goals without sacrificing farmland, rural character, and local land-use planning.
• Farming groups and rural advocates have been pushing for policies that keep industrial solar off high-quality soils and preserved land — SB 683 is one of the state’s responses to that concern.

Status

Introduced in early February 2026 and referred to the Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee for hearings.