Harford County government could be the first major customer of a solar energy farm proposed for Perryman and expected to be the largest of its kind in the state.
Legislation was introduced to the County Council Tuesday to ratify a solar power purchase agreement with Constellation Generation for the county's Sod Run Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is a short distance from the solar farm site.
The 20-year agreement would cost $0.07 per kilowatt hour, subject to a 1.5 percent annual increase, to fuel the Sod Run plant, on Perryman's Chelsea Road. The legislation will have a public hearing on April 7 at 6 p.m. in the council chambers in Bel Air.
"The proposed 2.7 MW project is part of Constellation's overall plan to construct up to 20 megawatts of solar generation at Perryman Station, enough to power the equivalent of 2,000 homes," Constellation spokesperson Kelly Biemer said Wednesday.
She cautioned, however, that Constellation hasn't decided to move forward with the project.
"As mentioned last fall, no formal decision has been made yet about the construction of solar projects at Perryman, and we continue to evaluate additional renewable generation projects that will help Maryland meet its clean energy goals," Biemer said via e-mail.
The solar farm would be on 200 acres next to Constellation's existing generation station between Perryman and Chelsea roads. The solar project had an initial county development review last year.
County Executive Barry Glassman confirmed the purchase agreement would be for the first phase of the project.
"I think ultimately it has the potential to be one of the largest solar projects in the region," Glassman said Wednesday. "Part of my economic development plan is to also include these types of energy projects."
"It's a win-win for the county," he said, adding it would be "a rather large investment for the county."
Exelon, which owns Constellation, is working on another, $120 million project, expected to be completed in June 2015, to build two 60-megawatt natural gas generating units at the existing Perryman generating station.
Originally developed in the mid-1990s, Perryman Station has four existing oil-fired combustion turbines and a fifth fired by natural gas. Those are also used to supply power during peak demand periods.