Clean Energy Grid Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2422 To advance the integration of clean distributed energy into electric grids, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 1, 2019 Mrs. SHAHEEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources A BILL To advance the integration of clean distributed energy into electric grids, 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 ‘‘Clean Energy Grid 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 (1) research by the Secretary of Energy and the 8 Administrator of the Environmental Protection 9 Agency has found that clean distributed energy tech- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2422 IS nologies can create important values for both the 1 host facility and the electric grid operator; 2 (2) the values described in paragraph (1) can 3 include, for the host facility— 4 (A) energy bill savings; 5 (B) additional revenue from offering ancil- 6 lary services to the electric grid operator; 7 (C) increased electric reliability in the 8 event of grid outages; and 9 (D) improved electric power quality; 10 (3) the values described in paragraph (1) can 11 include, for the electric grid operator— 12 (A) avoiding the need for transmission and 13 distribution upgrade investments; 14 (B) enhanced grid stability by providing 15 reactive power; 16 (C) voltage and frequency stabilization; 17 and 18 (D) more reliable and stable operation of 19 the grid by providing dispatchable energy to the 20 grid during periods of insufficient capacity or 21 supply; and 22 (4) new advances in intelligent sensing and sim- 23 ulation and control technologies offer the potential 24 to enhance the benefits of clean distributed genera- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2422 IS tion to both the host facility and the electric grid op- 1 erator from dynamic, adaptive, and anticipatory re- 2 sponse to changing grid conditions. 3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 4 In this Act: 5 (1) ANCILLARY SERVICE.—The term ‘‘ancillary 6 service’’ means those services necessary to support 7 the transmission of electric power from seller to pur- 8 chaser given the obligations of control areas and 9 transmitting utilities within those control areas to 10 maintain reliable operations of the interconnected 11 transmission system. 12 (2) CLEAN DISTRIBUTED ENERGY.—The term 13 ‘‘clean distributed energy’’ means energy tech- 14 nologies that are located on or near the customer 15 site operating on the customer side of the electric 16 meter and are interconnected with the electric grid, 17 including— 18 (A) clean electric generation; 19 (B) customer electric efficiency measures; 20 (C) electric demand flexibility; and 21 (D) energy storage. 22 (3) GRID.—The term ‘‘grid’’ means the electric 23 grid that is composed of both distribution and trans- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2422 IS mission lines, and associated facilities, including sub- 1 stations, sensors, and operational controls. 2 (4) INTELLIGENCE.—The term ‘‘intelligence’’ 3 means any devices or technologies that manifest 4 adaptive, anticipatory, and dynamic optimization be- 5 havior. 6 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 7 the Secretary of Energy. 8 SEC. 4. RESEARCH AND DEPLOYMENT PLAN FOR EN- 9 HANCED INTEGRATION OF CLEAN DISTRIB- 10 UTED ENERGY WITH THE GRID. 11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out ef- 12 forts for advancing the integration of clean distributed en- 13 ergy into electric grids. 14 (b) STUDY AND REPORT ON THE STATUS OF GRID 15 INTEGRATION.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 17 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 18 retary, after consultation with State public utility 19 commissions, State energy offices, regional trans- 20 mission organizations, electric and natural gas utili- 21 ties, independent power producers, clean distributed 22 energy providers, public interest organizations, and 23 other appropriate stakeholders, shall conduct a study 24 on the status of integration of clean distributed en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2422 IS ergy into the grid, identifying any issues that require 1 additional research or regulatory development. 2 (2) INCLUSIONS.—In conducting the study 3 under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 4 (A) identify and quantify the benefits to all 5 stakeholders of expanded integration of clean 6 distributed energy resources into the grid; 7 (B) identify any technical issues (including 8 cybersecurity concerns) that require research to 9 identify solutions; and 10 (C) identify any regulatory barriers that 11 inhibit the expanded integration of clean dis- 12 tributed energy resources into the grid. 13 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 14 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 15 submit to Congress a report describing the results of 16 the study conducted under paragraph (1). 17 (4) BEST PRACTICES.—Based on the findings 18 of the report described in paragraph (3), the Sec- 19 retary shall establish and distribute to States best 20 practices to encourage the integration of clean dis- 21 tributed energy into the grid. 22 (5) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall use unobli- 23 gated funds of the Department of Energy to carry 24 out this subsection. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2422 IS (c) RESEARCH INTO THE TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO 1 THE INTEGRATION OF CLEAN DISTRIBUTED ENERGY 2 WITH THE GRID.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 4 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 5 retary shall— 6 (A) issue a solicitation for research pro- 7 posals to address the technical barriers identi- 8 fied in the report submitted under subsection 9 (b)(3); and 10 (B) make grants to those applicants with 11 research proposals selected by the Secretary in 12 accordance with paragraph (2). 13 (2) CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall select re- 14 search proposals to receive a grant under this sub- 15 section on the basis of merit, using criteria identified 16 by the Secretary, including the likelihood that the 17 research results will address critical barriers identi- 18 fied by the Secretary. 19 (3) FUNDING.—Beginning in the first full fiscal 20 year following the date of enactment of this Act, and 21 annually thereafter for 2 years, the Secretary may 22 request funding as necessary to carry out this sub- 23 section, but in no case shall funding exceed 24 $5,000,000 in any 1 fiscal year. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2422 IS (d) CREATION OF A STAKEHOLDER WORKING 1 GROUP.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 3 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 4 retary shall convene a working group (referred to in 5 this subsection as the ‘‘Group’’) to address regu- 6 latory barriers to deployment of intelligent grid inte- 7 gration of clean distributed energy technologies. 8 (2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Group is to 9 provide guidance on how to address the regulatory 10 and economic factors that limit widespread integra- 11 tion of grid-level clean distributed energy use in 12 order to advance the integration of clean distributed 13 energy into electric grids. 14 (3) MEMBERSHIP.—The Group shall be com- 15 posed of— 16 (A) representatives from— 17 (i) State public utility commissions; 18 (ii) State energy offices; 19 (iii) regional transmission organiza- 20 tions; 21 (iv) electric and natural gas utilities; 22 (v) independent power producers; 23 (vi) clean distributed energy providers; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2422 IS (vii) public interest organizations; and 1 (B) any other appropriate stakeholders de- 2 termined by the Secretary to have a material 3 interest in the development, implementation, 4 siting, and integration of clean distributed en- 5 ergy technology or systems into the electric 6 grid. 7 (4) DUTIES.—The duties of the Group shall 8 be— 9 (A) to review the regulatory barriers iden- 10 tified in the report prepared by the Secretary 11 under subsection (b)(3); 12 (B) to identify any additional regulatory 13 barriers that inhibit the installation of distrib- 14 uted energy; and 15 (C) to recommend to the Secretary actions 16 that should be considered to remove the bar- 17 riers identified under subparagraphs (A) and 18 (B). 19 (5) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the 20 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 21 prepare and submit to Congress a report based on 22 the recommendations of the Group under paragraph 23 (4)(C), to be made publicly available. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2422 IS (6) FUNDING.—The Secretary may request 1 funding as necessary to carry out this subsection, 2 but in no case shall funding exceed $2,000,000 in 3 any 1 fiscal year. 4 (e) DEMONSTRATIONS OF INTELLIGENT GRID INTE- 5 GRATION OF CLEAN DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEMS.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Based on the findings in the 7 reports conducted under this section and not later 8 than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 9 the Secretary shall issue a solicitation for dem- 10 onstration of integration of distributed energy re- 11 sources into the grid. 12 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Any individual entity 13 or group of entities may submit to the Secretary 14 proposals for demonstration projects based on the 15 solicitation described in paragraph (1), including— 16 (A) State and local agencies; 17 (B) public institutions; 18 (C) private companies; 19 (D) electric and natural gas utilities; and 20 (E) equipment manufacturers. 21 (3) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may 22 make grants, in amounts not to exceed a total of 23 $5,000,000, to eligible entities to carry out dem- 24 onstration projects, to be selected based on— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 2422 IS (A) the technical merits of the demonstra- 1 tion project; 2 (B) the likelihood that the demonstration 3 project will address critical barriers identified 4 by the Secretary under this section; and 5 (C) the share of non-Federal funds for the 6 demonstration project. 7 (4) FUNDING.—Beginning in the third full fis- 8 cal year following the date of enactment of this Act, 9 and annually thereafter for 3 years, the Secretary 10 may request funding as necessary to carry out this 11 subsection, but in no case shall funding exceed 12 $15,000,000 in any 1 fiscal year. 13 (f) REPORT.—The Secretary annually shall submit to 14 Congress a report that— 15 (1) describes the progress made in carrying out 16 this section; and 17 (2) identifies any technical or regulatory issues 18 that require legislative action. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS