Draft your Maryland SolarAPP+ grant application in one sitting

A free tool for Maryland counties, cities and towns applying for MEA’s FY27 SolarAPP+ Implementation Grant. Pick your jurisdiction and get a working draft of your estimate, narrative, staff time, budget and timeline.

Start Your Draft

Applications are due November 18, 2026 at 3:00 PM ET. MEA funds requests first-come, first-served and may close early once the $3.8 million budget is used, so apply early.

What the Grant Builder does

Select your jurisdiction and the tool fills in:

  • Your estimated grant amount, based on MEA’s formula ($10,000 plus $0.95 per housing unit, up to $100,000)
  • A starting project summary and narrative you can edit
  • Staff hours scaled to your jurisdiction’s size
  • A budget that ties to your staff time, as MEA requires
  • A 12-month implementation timeline that gets SolarAPP+ live by August 1, 2027
  • Your census tract list

When you’re done, download everything as an Excel workbook to work from. Each section is numbered to match MEA’s Funding Opportunity Announcement, so you can follow along with the official requirements.


Before you start

Have these on hand and you can finish in one sitting:

  • Last year’s residential solar permit count, average days to issue, and first-inspection pass rate
  • The name of your permitting software and a short description of your permit steps
  • All-in hourly rates (salary plus fringe) for staff handling training, procedures, fees and IT
  • Any local funds you plan to contribute


Your data stays with you

You download your draft and IBTS never receives your application content. The tool is free, open to every Maryland jurisdiction, and using it creates no obligation.


Why IBTS built this

IBTS is a nonprofit that has worked with local governments on permitting and inspections for decades. We helped NREL build SolarAPP+, and the platform uses the IBTS solar checklist. We built this tool so Maryland jurisdictions can spend less time on paperwork and get to faster solar permitting sooner.




The SolarAPP+ Grant Builder is a free general template prepared by the Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS). IBTS is not affiliated with the Maryland Energy Administration and does not review, prepare or edit grant applications. All figures are estimates; verify them against the FY27 Funding Opportunity Announcement and submit through MEA’s application portal. Program questions go to MEA at grid.mea@maryland.gov.