At the July 3, 2017, Baltimore County Council Meeting, the bill submitted by Vicki Almond passed, with amendments.  Up to 10 installations per councilmanic district will be permitted by special exception; installations can produce up to two megawatts of electricity.  This does not include installations accessory to a principal residential or agricultural use or accessory to a principal commercial, industrial, or institutional use, rooftop installations, installations on government-owned land that produces energy for government use, or solar facilities on farms that use at least 2/3 of the energy produced for agricultural uses on the farm.  A variety of governmental and non-governmental agencies are charged with evaluating the impact of solar facilities and submitting recommendations of potential changes to the law by July 1, 2018.

When or whether solar installations will begin appearing in the area is unknown.  We will continue to work with other community groups and our legislators to use alternative energy intelligently.