Two Maryland build sites got their green light this week, one on a power plant property in Prince George's County and one on a coal seam out west that stopped producing a generation ago.
What happened
Brian Martucci at Utility Dive reported Tuesday that the Maryland Public Service Commission made the state's first bulk energy storage awards, 440 megawatts and 1,760 megawatt hours across two projects, decided by the commission's October 1 statutory deadline. The two figures measure different things: megawatts are how much power a battery can push at any one moment, megawatt hours are how long it can keep pushing. Together they work out to roughly four hours of run time.
The bigger award went to Flatiron Energy, a Denver-based storage developer that works in PJM, ISO New England, New York and Texas. Its Chalk Point Storage Project is 400 MW and 1,600 MWh, sited at NRG's Chalk Point generating station property in Prince George's County, a site built around oil and gas fired units, and it ties into existing Pepco substation infrastructure. A property that already has a switchyard and wires in the ground is the fastest kind of site a developer can get.
The second went to REV Renewables for Jade Meadow III, a 40 MW/160 MWh battery storage project at 1700 Russell Road in Barton, Maryland, on reclaimed coal-mine land in western Maryland. Garrett County’s Business Development Office announced the award October 2. The battery will be paired with a 300 MW solar project already approved for the site, with commercial operation targeted for October 1, 2028. Now, the storage project awaits final construction approval.
Why it counts
Both awards are, before anything else, construction calendars. REV Renewables puts the full Jade Meadow III build at more than $500 million and more than 1,200 jobs in design, management and labor at the height of construction, per the company's own project page. That figure covers the combined solar and storage build rather than the 40 MW battery by itself, and those are construction jobs, not permanent operating roles. The company also lists the second ring of work that follows a build that size into a rural county: restaurants, lodging, engineering firms, surveyors, landscapers and trucking outfits. REV says the project will send direct tax revenue to the county budget for the life of the asset.
REV has run this play on the same kind of ground before. Jade Meadow I, 20 MW across 85 acres of reclaimed mine land near Frostburg, set roughly 50,000 panels and supported more than 75 construction jobs, according to the company's account of its September 2024 ribbon cutting. Allegany Coal and Land Company leased the acreage. Governor Wes Moore called the project a model for how the state and local communities can work together. The same crews, the same trucking firms and the same surveyors are within driving distance of the new site.
At Chalk Point, Flatiron's director of development, Charlie McGovern, told the commission at a July 31 hearing that the project would mean more than 100 local jobs and about $15 million in local wages, for a version of the proposal sized at 670 MW. The awarded project is smaller than that pitch. Storage work on a site like that one runs through electricians pulling medium voltage cable, operators setting pads and containers, riggers, testing technicians and the commissioning crews who sign the thing off before it ever serves a customer.
"Projects like Jade Meadow III demonstrate the potential to transform reclaimed mine land to productive assets for the next generation of our economy. The investment in this project, combined with the previously approved solar development, represents an exciting opportunity for Garrett County to participate in Maryland's growing energy economy."
Kim Durst, manager of business development, Garrett County
The numbers
440 MW and 1,760 MWh awarded across the two projects, on 15 year terms. 400 MW and 1,600 MWh at Chalk Point, 40 MW and 160 MWh at Jade Meadow III. More than $500 million in planned investment and more than 1,200 jobs at the peak of construction on the western Maryland project, per REV Renewables. More than 100 local jobs and about $15 million in local wages at Chalk Point, per Flatiron's July 31 presentation to the commission. Commercial operation targeted for October 1, 2028 at Jade Meadow III.
That hiring sits inside a sector that has been adding people. The Department of Energy's 2026 U.S. Energy and Employment Report counts battery storage employment up 11 percent, about 8,000 more workers than in 2022. The broader transmission, distribution and storage sector employed 1.5 million people and added 28,300 of them in a year, and construction, installation and repair occupations inside that sector grew 2.4 percent, about 9,600 workers. Maryland is now writing its own share of that into contracts.
What comes next
Round 1 landed under the commission's 800 MW target, and the state's mandate under the Next Generation Energy Act runs to 1.6 gigawatts across two rounds, so a second solicitation is already scheduled. It opens by January 1, 2027, with awards due by October 1, 2027. Commission Chair Kumar Barve said that round is expected to draw many more offers, pointing to a pool of more than 40 additional storage projects working through PJM's Cycle 1 interconnection process, the waiting line a project sits in before it can connect to the regional grid.
Both awards are conditional. Jade Meadow III still needs its certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) from the commission, Case No. 9769, before crews mobilize, and Flatiron has its own approvals ahead at Chalk Point. The work is real. The start dates are not fixed yet.
For anyone recruiting, the window to get in front of these builds is now, not in 2028. Trade programs at Allegany College of Maryland and the building trades locals across western Maryland and the Washington suburbs have about a year of lead time before the first big mobilization, and Round 2 will put another slate of sites behind these two.
The Bottom Line
Maryland handed two developers a reason to start calling contractors. One is bringing a build worth more than half a billion dollars to a county where the mine payroll left decades ago. The other is putting a battery fleet on a generating station property that already has the wires. Forty more projects are lined up behind them for Round 2. If you pull cable, run a transit, drive a truck or set steel in western Maryland or southern Prince George's County, the 2027 calendar is the one to watch.
Sources: Maryland nets 440 MW/1,760 MWh in first bulk energy storage procurement, Brian Martucci, Utility Dive, October 6, 2026. Jade Meadow III Project Receives Maryland Energy Storage Award, Garrett County Business Development, October 2, 2026. Jade Meadow III project page, REV Renewables. Jade Meadow I ribbon cutting, REV Renewables, September 25, 2024. Flatiron pitches 670 MW Chalk Point reliability storage, Citizen Portal coverage of the Maryland Public Service Commission hearing, July 31, 2026. About Flatiron Energy. 2026 U.S. Energy and Employment Report, U.S. Department of Energy.
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