{"data":{"id":"us-md/md.-code-economic-development-5-445","jurisdiction":"us-md","citation":"Md. Code, Economic Development § 5–445","heading":"","body":"(a) (1) In this section the following words have the meanings indicated.\n(2) (i) “Renewable fuel” means gaseous, liquid, or solid fuel from any organic matter and its by–products.\n(ii) “Renewable fuel” includes fuel from:\n1. an agricultural crop, agricultural waste, or agricultural residue;\n2. wood, wood waste, or wood residue;\n3. animal waste;\n4. aquatic plants;\n5. sewage or sewage sludge;\n6. municipal, industrial, or commercial waste;\n7. any mixture of any of these substances with inorganic refuse from a public or private municipal waste collection system or similar disposal system; or\n8. any combination of items 1 through 7 of this subparagraph.\n(iii) “Renewable fuel” does not include fossil fuel.\n(3) “Transportation facility” means a transportation facility that is used exclusively to transport fuel produced by a fuel production facility to:\n(i) a storage facility;\n(ii) a pipeline connection to an existing pipeline or processing facility; or\n(iii) an area near the fuel production facility.\n(b) A project qualifies as an energy project if it consists of:\n(1) an energy conservation project;\n(2) a solar energy project;\n(3) the construction of a facility to produce solar energy equipment;\n(4) the construction of a facility or portion of a facility to:\n(i) produce renewable fuel; and\n(ii) burn renewable fuel, or a mixture of renewable fuel with other materials, to generate:\n1. heat;\n2. mechanical power;\n3. electricity, including by cogeneration; or\n4. other useful forms of energy;\n(5) the conversion of any facility to use renewable fuel;\n(6) the expansion or improvement of a facility that increases its capacity or efficiency to use renewable fuel;\n(7) the acquisition and improvement of equipment for use in a facility specified in items (4) through (6) of this subsection;\n(8) the acquisition or improvement of land for a facility specified in items (4) through (6) of this subsection;\n(9) the purchase, construction, or installation of a facility or equipment to use groundwater as a heat source for a heating system or as a heat sink for an air conditioning system;\n(10) the purchase, construction, or installation of a facility or equipment to develop and use the natural heat of the earth for direct use or to generate electricity;\n(11) the purchase, construction, and installation of a hydroelectric facility at an existing dam that:\n(i) uses the water power potential of the dam; and\n(ii) has no more than 30 megawatts of installed capacity;\n(12) the construction of a fuel production facility for commercial production of a gaseous, liquid, or solid fuel, or of a combination of them, that:\n(i) is produced by chemical or physical transformation of coal or mixtures of coal and other materials;\n(ii) can be used as a substitute for petroleum or natural gas, or any of their derivatives, including chemical feedstocks; and\n(iii) includes only:\n1. the fuel production facility, including the equipment, plant, supplies, and other materials associated with the fuel production facility;\n2. the land and mineral rights required directly for use in connection with the fuel production facility;\n3. any other facility or equipment to be used in the extraction of a mineral for use directly and exclusively in the fuel production facility that is necessary to the project and is:\nA. colocated with or located in the immediate vicinity of the fuel production facility; or\nB. if not colocated or located in accordance with item A of this item:\nI. a coal mine in the case that no other reasonable source of coal is available to the project; or\nII. incidental to the project; and\n4. any transportation facility, electric power plant, electric transmission line, or other facility that is:\nA. for the exclusive use of the project;\nB. incidental to the project; and\nC. necessary to the project;\n(13) the conversion of a facility from using petroleum–based fuel to coal or to a mixture of coal and other materials as a fuel; or\n(14) the construction of a facility to burn coal using innovative technology that increases the efficiency of the combustion process.","path":["Article - Economic Development"],"source_url":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gec\u0026section=5-445","current_through":"2026-01-01","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T19:57:28Z","sha256":"96daa7a0b4d1036c4ebd451c829b0a515c04fb8d764535b197af50f816959f99","source_id":"us-md","stale":false,"prev":"us-md/md.-code-economic-development-5-444","next":"us-md/md.-code-economic-development-5-446"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}