Reducing the Cost of Energy Storage Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1741 To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to advance energy storage deployment by reducing the cost of energy storage through re- search, development, and demonstration, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 5, 2019 Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. REED, and Mr. COONS) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Energy and Natural Resources A BILL To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to advance energy storage deployment by reducing the cost of energy storage through research, development, and demonstration, 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 ‘‘Reducing the Cost of 4 Energy Storage Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) DER.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1741 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘DER’’ 1 means an electric device that can produce or 2 consume energy that is located— 3 (i) on the distribution system or any 4 subsystem of the distribution system; or 5 (ii) behind a customer meter. 6 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘DER’’ in- 7 cludes— 8 (i) an energy storage resource; 9 (ii) an energy generation technology; 10 (iii) a demand response resource; 11 (iv) an energy efficiency resource; 12 (v) an electric vehicle and associated 13 supply equipment and systems; and 14 (vi) aggregations and integrated con- 15 trol systems, including virtual power 16 plants, microgrids, and networks of 17 microgrid cells. 18 (2) ELECTRIC CONSUMER; STATE REGULATORY 19 AUTHORITY.—The terms ‘‘electric consumer’’ and 20 ‘‘State regulatory authority’’ have the meanings 21 given the terms in section 3 of the Public Utility 22 Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2602). 23 (3) ENERGY STORAGE.—The term ‘‘energy 24 storage’’ means equipment or facilities capable of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1741 IS absorbing energy, storing energy for a period of 1 time, and dispatching the stored energy, that— 2 (A) uses mechanical, electrochemical, hy- 3 droelectric, or thermal processes, as a single fa- 4 cility or as an aggregation of units, throughout 5 the electric grid, including behind the meter to 6 store energy generated at 1 time for use at a 7 later time; 8 (B) uses mechanical, electrochemical, hy- 9 droelectric, or thermal processes, as a single fa- 10 cility or as an aggregation of units, throughout 11 the electric grid, including behind the meter to 12 store energy generated from mechanical proc- 13 esses that would otherwise be wasted for deliv- 14 ery at a later time; or 15 (C) stores thermal energy for direct use for 16 heating or cooling at a later time in a manner 17 that avoids the need to use electricity at that 18 later time. 19 (4) LIGHT-DUTY CONSUMER VEHICLE.—The 20 term ‘‘light-duty consumer vehicle’’ has the meaning 21 given the term ‘‘light-duty vehicle’’ in section 22 1037.801 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations 23 (as in effect on the date of enactment of this Act). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1741 IS (5) MICROGRID.—The term ‘‘microgrid’’ means 1 a localized grid that can disconnect from the tradi- 2 tional grid to operate autonomously and help miti- 3 gate grid disturbances to strengthen grid resilience. 4 (6) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 5 the energy storage program established under sec- 6 tion 3(a). 7 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 8 the Secretary of Energy. 9 (8) STATE ENERGY OFFICE.—The term ‘‘State 10 energy office’’ has the meaning given the term in 11 section 124(a) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 12 U.S.C. 15821(a)). 13 (9) TRANSIT VEHICLE.—The term ‘‘transit ve- 14 hicle’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘bus’’ in sec- 15 tion 1192.3 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations 16 (as in effect on the date of enactment of this Act). 17 SEC. 3. REDUCING THE COST OF ENERGY STORAGE. 18 (a) ENERGY STORAGE PROGRAM.— 19 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year 20 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 21 retary shall establish a cross-cutting national pro- 22 gram within the Department of Energy to advance 23 energy storage deployment by reducing the cost of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1741 IS energy storage through research, development, and 1 demonstration. 2 (b) GOALS.—In developing the program, the Sec- 3 retary shall consider the goals of— 4 (1)(A) reducing the full lifecycle cost and envi- 5 ronmental impact of energy storage technologies, 6 services, and applications, with an emphasis on re- 7 ducing costs associated with combining energy stor- 8 age with intermittent renewable energy generation; 9 and 10 (B) increasing the cost-competitiveness of en- 11 ergy storage technologies, services, and applications, 12 including— 13 (i) the costs of subsystem components, in- 14 stallation, and integration; and 15 (ii) the costs associated with the applica- 16 tion of energy storage technologies within inte- 17 grated control systems; 18 (2) facilitating innovation in the manner in 19 which energy storage systems are conceived, de- 20 signed, manufactured, installed, and used for various 21 energy services; 22 (3) improving the understanding of the econom- 23 ics and technical characteristics of new electric grid 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1741 IS operating principles enabled by energy storage, in- 1 cluding by considering regional characteristics; 2 (4)(A) identifying the various use cases that are 3 possible with energy storage (including individual 4 technology applications, combination technology ap- 5 plications, and integrated control system applica- 6 tions); and 7 (B) quantifying, demonstrating, and maxi- 8 mizing— 9 (i) the value of energy storage in the var- 10 ious use cases identified under subparagraph 11 (A); and 12 (ii) the energy storage services that could 13 be provided in those various use cases— 14 (I) individually; and 15 (II) in multiple or stacked services, in- 16 cluding the generation of multiple value 17 streams from integrated control systems, 18 such as microgrids; 19 (5) identifying, addressing, and reducing mar- 20 ket barriers that limit energy storage adoption, in- 21 cluding by— 22 (A) identifying wholesale and retail market 23 barriers; 24 (B) helping to streamline processes— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1741 IS (i) to reduce the time required for 1 project completion; and 2 (ii) to lower interconnection costs; and 3 (C) facilitating increased deployment of en- 4 ergy storage across sectors, including facili- 5 tating— 6 (i) the deployment of residential, com- 7 mercial, and industrial applications; and 8 (ii) the deployment to low-income in- 9 dividuals and communities; 10 (6) advancing and validating the safety, reli- 11 ability, and performance of energy storage, including 12 by— 13 (A) establishing procedures for evaluating, 14 verifying, and reporting the performance of en- 15 ergy storage technologies, including the oper- 16 ational safety and usable life of energy storage 17 technologies; and 18 (B) refining existing or developing new in- 19 dustry-accepted codes, standards, and testing 20 procedures to specify desired performance pa- 21 rameters for energy storage services; 22 (7) mapping pathways for energy storage de- 23 ployment that increase the reliability, efficiency, se- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 1741 IS curity, and resilience of the electricity system, in- 1 cluding by— 2 (A) increasing the understanding of trends 3 in electricity system inertia; and 4 (B) assessing the ability of energy storage 5 to provide the technical services needed for 6 management of electricity system inertia; 7 (8) optimizing energy storage deployment— 8 (A) to increase the deployment of variable 9 renewable energy-generation technology and 10 electric transportation; and 11 (B) to support the optimal use of distrib- 12 uted and grid scale energy resources, including 13 assessing the use of energy storage technologies 14 to manage and optimize DERs— 15 (i) at different levels of market pene- 16 tration; or 17 (ii) within integrated control systems 18 or energy management systems, at dif- 19 ferent scales; 20 (9) advancing analytical resources to employ 21 storage technology effectively and profitably, includ- 22 ing by— 23 (A) using existing integrated resource 24 planning, transmission, and distribution design 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 1741 IS tools and other resources to build staff capacity 1 for State regulatory authorities, State energy 2 offices, electric utilities, balancing authorities, 3 and Federal power marketing administrations 4 to assist in reducing the uncertainty and risks 5 relating to energy storage deployment; 6 (B) developing techniques for conducting 7 energy storage business case analyses; and 8 (C) developing end-state modeling of least- 9 cost solutions in scenarios in which— 10 (i) energy storage is deployed; and 11 (ii) 90 to 100 percent of electricity is 12 produced by renewable generation re- 13 sources; 14 (10) spurring an increase in the number of en- 15 ergy storage technologies that are manufactured 16 cost-competitively in the United States— 17 (A) through public-private partnerships; 18 and 19 (B) by reducing investment risk; 20 (11) identifying— 21 (A) critical and conflict materials issues re- 22 lating to energy storage technologies; and 23 (B) innovative, low-impact, and cost-com- 24 petitive methods for procuring energy storage 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 1741 IS materials that address the conflict issues identi- 1 fied under subparagraph (A), including— 2 (i) materials recycling programs, 3 which may also have the effect of increas- 4 ing the life of batteries; and 5 (ii) novel methods for obtaining lith- 6 ium and other minerals domestically; and 7 (12) enabling responsible lifecycle management 8 of energy storage technologies through— 9 (A) conducting research on responsible re- 10 cycling of advanced battery materials and chem- 11 istries; 12 (B) encouraging the sustainable design of 13 new energy storage technologies; and 14 (C) investigating end-of-life and second-life 15 applications for advanced batteries. 16 (c) PRIORITY.—In developing the program, the Sec- 17 retary shall pay special attention to energy storage needs 18 and opportunities that are relatively underdeveloped and 19 potentially transformative for the electric grid. 20 (d) SUBPROGRAMS.—The program shall be comprised 21 of not fewer than 4 subprograms, including— 22 (1) a large-scale energy storage subprogram 23 with emphasis on large-scale energy storage systems, 24 including— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 1741 IS (A) electrochemical storage; 1 (B) pumped hydroelectric storage; 2 (C) mechanical storage; 3 (D) thermal storage; 4 (E) compression storage; and 5 (F) other technologies, as determined by 6 the Secretary; 7 (2) a distributed storage subprogram that fo- 8 cuses on distributed energy storage technologies and 9 applications, including existing assets and infra- 10 structure, such as electric hot water heaters and 11 thermal storage for space heating and cooling; 12 (3) a transportation electrification subprogram 13 that focuses on storage for and within electric vehi- 14 cles, including— 15 (A) light-, medium-, and heavy-duty pas- 16 senger, utility, transit, and fleet vehicles; 17 (B) vehicle-grid integration, including vehi- 18 cle-to-grid applications and time-varying pricing 19 signals; and 20 (C) charging infrastructure and related 21 networks and systems; and 22 (4) a responsible battery lifecycle management 23 subprogram that focuses on— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 1741 IS (A) recycling spent batteries, including all 1 chemistries of batteries; and 2 (B) designing new batteries for end-of-life 3 recycling. 4 (e) COST TARGET.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop 6 cost targets (including technology costs, installation 7 costs, balance of services costs, and soft costs) for 8 energy storage across all types of energy storage 9 technology. 10 (2) TARGET UPDATE; SUBTARGETS.—Not later 11 than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act 12 and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary shall— 13 (A) increase the rigor of cost targets based 14 on— 15 (i) a technology-neutral approach that 16 considers all types of— 17 (I) energy storage; 18 (II) application and sector-spe- 19 cific use profiles; and 20 (III) energy storage deployment 21 scenarios, including individual tech- 22 nologies, technology combination use 23 profiles, and integrated control system 24 applications; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 13 •S 1741 IS (ii) input from a variety of stake- 1 holders, including the stakeholders de- 2 scribed in subsection (i); 3 (iii) the inclusion and use of existing 4 infrastructure; and 5 (iv) the ability to optimize the integra- 6 tion of intermittent renewable energy gen- 7 eration technology and DERs; and 8 (B) establish cost subtargets specific to 9 technologies and applications selected by the 10 Secretary, taking into consideration electricity 11 market prices and what is required to be cost- 12 competitive in specific markets for electric grid 13 products an [Text truncated for display. 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