PureSky Energy, a national developer and operator of community solar and energy storage facilities, required an independent assessment of the economic and fiscal effects its proposed solar project at 5302 Renn Road would produce in Frederick County, Maryland, and across the state. Proposed solar development in Maryland is evaluated in part on the local economic activity and tax revenue it generates, and PureSky needed defensible third-party estimates of both construction and operating impacts to present to county and state stakeholders.
ESI modeled the project at both the county and statewide levels, drawing on PureSky’s project-specific development budget rather than generalized industry assumptions. Construction inputs covered survey work, Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC), and module procurement, interconnection, development costs, subscription agreements, and legal costs. The operating analysis translated annual expenditure on operations and maintenance, land lease, asset and customer management, and insurance into aggregate impacts over the first five years following completion. Fiscal estimates drew on State of Maryland ACFR data, Comptroller of Maryland records, and Frederick County millage rates.
The analysis gave PureSky an independent account of what the project would contribute locally and statewide, separating one-time construction effects from the recurring contribution of the operating footprint. Reporting county-level and statewide results side by side allowed the company to speak to Frederick County audiences about benefits retained locally, including the property tax revenue that accounts for most of the county fiscal return over the first five years.
