Disaster Safe Power Grid Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 704 To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a grant program to improve the resiliency of the power grid to natural disasters and reduce the risk of wildfires caused by power lines, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 11, 2021 Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat- ural Resources A BILL To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a grant program to improve the resiliency of the power grid to natural disasters and reduce the risk of wildfires caused by power lines, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Disaster Safe Power 4 Grid Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:51 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S704.IS S704 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 704 IS (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 1 ty’’ means an electric utility, including— 2 (A) a publicly owned electric utility; 3 (B) a municipal electric utility; 4 (C) a cooperatively owned electric utility; 5 (D) an investor-owned electric utility; and 6 (E) a Federal agency or federally owned 7 corporation that is an electric utility (as defined 8 in section 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 9 U.S.C. 796)). 10 (2) POWER LINE.—The term ‘‘power line’’ in- 11 cludes a transmission line or a distribution line, as 12 applicable. 13 (3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 14 the program established under subsection (b). 15 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 16 the Secretary of Energy. 17 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days after 18 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall es- 19 tablish within the Office of Electricity Delivery and En- 20 ergy Reliability a program under which the Secretary shall 21 make grants to eligible entities to carry out activities 22 that— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:51 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S704.IS S704 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 704 IS (1) are supplemental to existing power grid- 1 hardening efforts of the eligible entity planned for 2 any given year; 3 (2) are designed to enhance public safety; and 4 (3)(A) reduce the risk of any power lines owned 5 or operated by the eligible entity causing a wildfire; 6 or 7 (B) increase the resiliency of the power grid to 8 withstand natural disasters, such as earthquakes, ice 9 storms, wind storms, snow storms, heat storms, and 10 other natural disasters. 11 (c) APPLICATION.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desiring a 13 grant under the program shall submit to the Sec- 14 retary an application at such time, in such manner, 15 and containing such information as the Secretary 16 may require. 17 (2) REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of receiving 18 a grant under the program, an eligible entity shall 19 submit to the Secretary as part of the application of 20 the eligible entity under paragraph (1)— 21 (A) a wildfire mitigation plan, if the eligi- 22 ble entity seeks a grant for purposes of imple- 23 menting a project or otherwise carrying out ac- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:51 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S704.IS S704 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 704 IS tivities to reduce wildfire risk, as described in 1 subsection (b)(3)(A); or 2 (B) a report detailing past, current, and 3 future efforts by the eligible entity to improve 4 the resiliency of the power grid with respect to 5 natural disasters, if the eligible entity seeks a 6 grant for purposes of increasing the resiliency 7 of the power grid, as described in subsection 8 (b)(3)(B). 9 (d) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—An eligible entity may 10 use a grant provided under the program— 11 (1) for the undergrounding of new and existing 12 power lines and circuits; 13 (2) to harden overhead power lines with fire re- 14 sistant or more resilient equipment, such as steel 15 poles and covered wires; 16 (3) to replace obsolete overhead conductors and 17 underground cables; 18 (4) to install fast-tripping protection systems; 19 (5) to construct and operate 1 or more weather 20 monitoring stations; 21 (6) to install fault location equipment or early 22 fault detection equipment; 23 (7) for the relocation of power lines to road- 24 ways; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:51 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S704.IS S704 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 704 IS (8) to carry out vegetation or fuels management 1 activities in accordance with Federal, State, and 2 local laws (including regulations); 3 (9) to install technology or equipment to miti- 4 gate hazards from or to animals and related damage 5 to the power grid; 6 (10) to install cameras, sensors, or other tech- 7 nology that provides real-time information about 8 conditions; 9 (11) to install technology to detect downed con- 10 ductors; 11 (12) for the installation of electrical facilities 12 necessary to sustain targeted microgrid operations, 13 including storage for the integration of distributed 14 energy resources into power grid operations, for the 15 benefit of community resiliency following a main 16 power grid outage; 17 (13) to harden facilities, substations, and other 18 systems for seismic events; and 19 (14) for other, related power grid upgrades to 20 reduce the risk of wildfire ignition or damage from 21 natural disasters. 22 (e) PRIORITY.—In making grants under the program, 23 the Secretary shall give priority to projects that, in the 24 determination of the Secretary, will generate the greatest 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:51 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S704.IS S704 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 704 IS community benefit in improving power grid resiliency to 1 natural disasters or reducing the risk of wildfire ignition 2 from power lines or equipment relative to the cost of the 3 project. 4 (f) SET ASIDES.— 5 (1) WILDFIRE SET ASIDE.—In making grants 6 under the program, the Secretary shall ensure that 7 not less than 40 percent of the total amounts made 8 available to eligible entities under the program are 9 made available to eligible entities that seek a grant 10 for purposes of implementing a project or otherwise 11 carrying out activities to reduce wildfire risk, as de- 12 scribed in subsection (b)(3)(A). 13 (2) SMALL UTILITIES SET ASIDE.—In making 14 grants under the program, the Secretary shall en- 15 sure that not less than 20 percent of the amounts 16 made available to eligible entities under the program 17 are made available to eligible entities that sell not 18 more than 4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity 19 per year. 20 (g) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 22 graph (2), as a condition of receiving a grant under 23 the program, an eligible entity shall provide match- 24 ing funds in the form of cash or an in-kind contribu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:51 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S704.IS S704 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 704 IS tion in an amount equal to not less than 100 percent 1 of the amounts made available under the grant. 2 (2) EXCEPTION FOR SMALL UTILITIES.—With 3 respect to an eligible entity that sells not more than 4 4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year, as 5 a condition of receiving a grant under the program, 6 the eligible entity shall provide matching funds in 7 the form of cash or an in-kind contribution in an 8 amount equal to not less than 1⁄3 of the amounts 9 made available under the grant. 10 (3) EXISTING EFFORTS.—On approval by the 11 Secretary, amounts expended by an eligible entity on 12 power grid resiliency or wildfire risk mitigation ef- 13 forts during the 1-year period ending on the date on 14 which a grant is received under the program shall 15 count toward the matching requirement described in 16 paragraph (1) or (2), as applicable. 17 (h) FEDERAL POWER MARKETING ADMINISTRA- 18 TIONS.—Any amounts made available to a Federal power 19 marketing administration pursuant to a grant under the 20 program shall be nonreimbursable. 21 (i) BIENNIAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after 22 the date of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years there- 23 after, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on En- 24 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:51 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S704.IS S704 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 704 IS mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep- 1 resentatives a report describing the manner in which, and 2 the extent to which— 3 (1) the resiliency of the power grid has in- 4 creased under the program during the period cov- 5 ered by the report; and 6 (2) the risk of wildfires caused by power lines 7 has been reduced under the program during the pe- 8 riod covered by the report. 9 (j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 10 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 11 out the program $10,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 12 2022 through 2031. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:51 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S704.IS S704 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS