BEST Act

II Calendar No. 255 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1602 [Report No. 116–135] To amend the United States Energy Storage Competitiveness Act of 2007 to establish a research, development, and demonstration program for grid-scale energy storage systems, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 22, 2019 Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. HEINRICH, Ms. SMITH, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. COONS, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. KING, Mr. CRAPO, Ms. STABENOW, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. MANCHIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. WHITE- HOUSE, Mr. REED, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources OCTOBER 22, 2019 Reported by Ms. MURKOWSKI, with an amendment and an amendment to the title [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To amend the United States Energy Storage Competitiveness Act of 2007 to establish a research, development, and demonstration program for grid-scale energy storage sys- tems, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\S1602.RS S1602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1602 RS 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 ‘‘Better Energy Storage 4 Technology Act’’ or the ‘‘BEST Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. GRID-SCALE ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM RESEARCH, 6 DEVELOPMENT, AND DEMONSTRATION PRO- 7 GRAM. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The United States Energy Stor- 9 age Competitiveness Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17231) is 10 amended— 11 (1) by redesignating subsections (l) through (p) 12 as subsections (m) through (q), respectively; and 13 (2) by inserting after subsection (k) the fol- 14 lowing: 15 ‘‘(l) GRID-SCALE ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM RE- 16 SEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND DEMONSTRATION PRO- 17 GRAM.— 18 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 19 ‘‘(A) ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM.—The 20 term ‘energy storage system’ means a system, 21 equipment, facility, or technology that— 22 ‘‘(i) is capable of absorbing energy, 23 storing that energy for a period of time, 24 and dispatching the stored energy; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1602.RS S1602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1602 RS ‘‘(ii)(I) uses a mechanical, electrical, 1 chemical, electrochemical, or thermal proc- 2 ess to store energy that— 3 ‘‘(aa) was generated at an earlier 4 time for use at a later time; or 5 ‘‘(bb) was generated from a me- 6 chanical process, and would otherwise 7 be wasted, for delivery at a later time; 8 or 9 ‘‘(II) stores thermal energy for direct 10 use for heating or cooling at a later time 11 in a manner that avoids the need to use 12 electricity at that later time, in the same 13 manner as the storage and use offered by 14 a grid-enabled water heater. 15 ‘‘(B) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ 16 means the research, development, and dem- 17 onstration program established under para- 18 graph (2)(A). 19 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.— 20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 21 days after the date of enactment of the BEST 22 Act, the Secretary shall establish within the Of- 23 fice of Electricity of the Department of Energy 24 a research, development, and demonstration 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1602.RS S1602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1602 RS program of grid-scale energy storage systems, 1 in accordance with this subsection. 2 ‘‘(B) GOALS, PRIORITIES, COST TAR- 3 GETS.—The Secretary shall develop goals, pri- 4 orities, and cost targets for the program. 5 ‘‘(3) STRATEGIC PLAN.— 6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 7 days after the date of enactment of the BEST 8 Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Com- 9 mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 10 Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, 11 and Technology of the House of Representa- 12 tives a 10-year strategic plan for the program. 13 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The strategic plan sub- 14 mitted under subparagraph (A) shall— 15 ‘‘(i) identify Department of Energy 16 programs that— 17 ‘‘(I) support the research and de- 18 velopment activities described in para- 19 graph (4) and the demonstration 20 projects under paragraph (6); and 21 ‘‘(II)(aa) do not support the ac- 22 tivities or projects described in sub- 23 clause (I); but 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1602.RS S1602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1602 RS ‘‘(bb) are important to the devel- 1 opment of grid-scale energy storage 2 systems and the mission of the Office 3 of Electricity of the Department of 4 Energy, as determined by the Sec- 5 retary; and 6 ‘‘(ii) include expected timelines for— 7 ‘‘(I) the accomplishment of rel- 8 evant objectives under current pro- 9 grams of the Department of Energy 10 relating to grid-scale energy storage 11 systems; and 12 ‘‘(II) the commencement of any 13 new initiatives within the Department 14 of Energy relating to grid-scale energy 15 storage systems to accomplish those 16 objectives. 17 ‘‘(C) UPDATES TO PLAN.—Not less fre- 18 quently than once every 2 years, the Secretary 19 shall submit to the Committee on Energy and 20 Natural Resources of the Senate and the Com- 21 mittee on Science, Space, and Technology of 22 the House of Representatives an updated 10- 23 year strategic plan, which shall identify, and 24 provide a justification for, any major deviation 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1602.RS S1602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1602 RS from a previous strategic plan submitted under 1 this paragraph. 2 ‘‘(4) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.—In car- 3 rying out the program, the Secretary shall focus re- 4 search and development activities on developing cost- 5 effective energy storage systems that— 6 ‘‘(A)(i) to balance day-scale needs, are ca- 7 pable of highly flexible power output for not 8 less than 6 hours; and 9 ‘‘(ii) have a lifetime of— 10 ‘‘(I) not less than 8,000 cycles of dis- 11 charge at full output; and 12 ‘‘(II) 20 years of operation; 13 ‘‘(B)(i) can provide power to the electric 14 grid for durations of approximately 10 to 100 15 hours; and 16 ‘‘(ii) have a lifetime of— 17 ‘‘(I) not less than 1,500 cycles of dis- 18 charge at full output; and 19 ‘‘(II) 20 years of operation; and 20 ‘‘(C) can store energy over several months 21 and address seasonal scale variations in supply 22 and demand. 23 ‘‘(5) COST TARGETS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1602.RS S1602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1602 RS ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Cost targets developed 1 by the Secretary under paragraph (2)(B) 2 shall— 3 ‘‘(i) be for energy storage costs across 4 all types of energy storage technology; and 5 ‘‘(ii) include technology costs, installa- 6 tion costs, balance of services costs, and 7 soft costs. 8 ‘‘(B) TARGET UPDATES; SUBTARGETS.— 9 Not less frequently than once every 5 years 10 during the 10-year period beginning on the date 11 of enactment of the BEST Act, the Secretary 12 shall— 13 ‘‘(i) revise the cost targets developed 14 under paragraph (2)(B) to be more strin- 15 gent, based on— 16 ‘‘(I) a technology-neutral ap- 17 proach that considers all types of en- 18 ergy storage deployment scenarios, in- 19 cluding individual technologies, tech- 20 nology combination use profiles, and 21 integrated control system applications; 22 ‘‘(II) input from a variety of 23 stakeholders, including the stake- 24 holders described in subsection (i)(3); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1602.RS S1602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1602 RS ‘‘(III) the inclusion and use of 1 existing infrastructure; and 2 ‘‘(IV) the ability to optimize the 3 integration of intermittent renewable 4 energy generation technology and dis- 5 tributed energy resources; and 6 ‘‘(ii) establish cost subtargets for 7 technologies and applications relating to 8 the energy storage systems described in 9 paragraph (4), taking into consideration— 10 ‘‘(I) electricity market prices; and 11 ‘‘(II) the goal of being cost-com- 12 petitive in specific markets for electric 13 grid products and services. 14 ‘‘(6) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.— 15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than Sep- 16 tember 30, 2023, under the program, the Sec- 17 retary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, 18 enter into agreements to carry out not more 19 than 5 grid-scale energy storage system dem- 20 onstration projects. 21 ‘‘(B) OBJECTIVES.—Each demonstration 22 project carried out under subparagraph (A) 23 shall be designed to further the development of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1602.RS S1602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1602 RS the energy storage systems described in para- 1 graph (4). 2 ‘‘(C) NO PROJECT OWNERSHIP INTER- 3 EST.—The Federal Government shall not hold 4 any equity or other ownership interest in any 5 grid-scale energy storage system that is part of 6 a demonstration project under this paragraph. 7 ‘‘(7) TESTING AND VALIDATION.—The Sec- 8 retary shall accelerate the standardized testing and 9 validation of grid-scale energy storage systems under 10 the program through collaboration with one or more 11 National Laboratories (as defined in section 2 of the 12 Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801)), in- 13 cluding by developing testing and evaluation meth- 14 odologies for— 15 ‘‘(A) standardized grid performance testing 16 for energy storage systems, materials, and tech- 17 nologies during each stage of development, be- 18 ginning with the research stage and ending with 19 the deployment stage, including performance 20 testing with charge and discharge protocols to 21 evaluate power capability, energy output, and 22 degradation during cycling and calendar aging 23 on earliest stage commercially viable prototypes 24 (commonly less than 100 kilowatts); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1602.RS S1602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1602 RS ‘‘(B) accelerated life testing protocols to 1 predict estimated lifetime metrics with accu- 2 racy. 3 ‘‘(8) COORDINATION.—To accelerate the devel- 4 opment of grid-scale energy storage systems under 5 the program, and pursuant to subsection (n), the 6 Secretary shall coordinate with— 7 ‘‘(A) offices within the Department of En- 8 ergy conducting energy storage research, such 9 as the Advanced Research Projects Agency–En- 10 ergy, the Office of Science, and the Office of 11 Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; 12 ‘‘(B) Federal agencies that are carrying 13 out initiatives to increase energy security or re- 14 liability, such as the Department of Defense, 15 the National Science Foundation, the Federal 16 Energy Regulatory Commission, and the De- 17 partment of Homeland Security; 18 ‘‘(C) program offices that aim to increase 19 domestic manufacturing and production, such 20 as the Office of Advanced Manufacturing in the 21 Department of Energy and the National Insti- 22 tute of Standards and Technology in the De- 23 partment of Commerce; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1602.RS S1602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1602 RS ‘‘(D) members of private industry to ad- 1 vance the development of commercially viable 2 grid-scale energy storage systems.’’. 3 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—The 4 United States Energy Storage Competitiveness Act of 5 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17231) is amended, in subsection (q) (as 6 redesignated by subsection (a)(1))— 7 (1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 8 end; 9 (2) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at 10 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 11 (3) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(7) the research, development, and demonstra- 13 tion program of grid-scale energy storage systems 14 under subsection (l) $60,000,000 for each of fiscal 15 years 2020 through 2024.’’. 16 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 17 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Better Energy Storage 18 Technology Act’’ or the ‘‘BEST Act’’. 19 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 20 In this Act: 21 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 22 means the Department of Energy. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S1602.RS S1602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1602 RS (2) ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘en- 1 ergy storage system’’ means any system, equipment, 2 facility, or technology that— 3 (A) is capable of absorbing or converting 4 energy, storing the energy for a period of time, 5 and dispatching the energy; and 6 (B)(i) uses mechanical, electrochemical, 7 thermal, electrolysis, or other processes to convert 8 and store electric energy that was generated at 9 an earlier time for use at a later time; or 10 (ii) stores energy in an electric, thermal, or 11 gaseous state for direct use for heating or cooling 12 at a later time in a manner that avoids the need 13 to use electricity or other fuel sources at that 14 later time, such as a grid-enabled water heater. 15 (3) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na- 16 tional Laboratory’’ has the meaning given the term in 17 section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 18 15801). 19 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 20 the Secretary of Energy, unless otherwise specified. 21 SEC. 3. ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM RESEARCH, DEVELOP- 22 MENT, AND DEPLOYMENT PROGRAM. 23 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 24 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall estab- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S1602.RS S1602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1602 RS lish a program, to be known as the ‘‘Energy Storage System 1 Research, Development, and Deployment Program’’ (re- 2 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘program’’). 3 (b) INITIAL PROGRAM OBJECTIVES.—The program 4 shall focus on research, development, and deployment of— 5 (1) energy storage systems designed to further the 6 development of technologies— 7 (A) for large-scale commercial deployment; 8 (B) for deployment at cost targets estab- 9 lished by the Secretary; 10 (C) for hourly and subhourly durations re- 11 quired to provide reliability services to the grid; 12 (D) for daily durations, w [Text truncated for display. 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