American Energy Opportunity Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2447 To require the Secretary of Energy to establish or designate the Distributed Energy Opportunity Board to carry out a program to facilitate a vol- untary streamlined process for local permitting of distributed renewable energy, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging systems, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 Mr. HEINRICH (for himself and Ms. COLLINS) 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 or designate the Distributed Energy Opportunity Board to carry out a program to facilitate a voluntary streamlined process for local permitting of distributed renewable energy, en- ergy storage, and electric vehicle charging systems, 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 ‘‘American Energy Op- 4 portunity Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:29 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2447.IS S2447 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2447 IS SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) AUTHORITY HAVING JURISDICTION.—The 3 term ‘‘authority having jurisdiction’’ means any 4 State, county, local, or Tribal office or official with 5 jurisdiction— 6 (A) to issue permits; 7 (B) to conduct inspections to enforce the 8 requirements of a relevant code or standard; or 9 (C) to approve the installation of, or the 10 equipment and materials used in the installa- 11 tion of, qualifying distributed energy systems. 12 (2) BOARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the 13 Distributed Energy Opportunity Board established 14 or designated under section 3(a). 15 (3) DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEM IN- 16 STALLER.—The term ‘‘distributed energy system in- 17 staller’’ means an entity or individual— 18 (A) with knowledge and skills relating to— 19 (i) the construction and operation of 20 the equipment used in qualifying distrib- 21 uted energy systems; and 22 (ii) the installation of qualifying dis- 23 tributed energy systems; and 24 (B) that has employed safety training to 25 recognize and avoid the hazards involved in con- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2447.IS S2447 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2447 IS structing, operating, and installing qualifying 1 distributed energy systems. 2 (4) QUALIFYING DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYS- 3 TEM.—The term ‘‘qualifying distributed energy sys- 4 tem’’ means any equipment or materials installed in, 5 on, or near a residential, commercial, or industrial 6 building to support onsite or local energy use, in- 7 cluding— 8 (A) to generate electricity from distributed 9 renewable energy sources, including from— 10 (i) solar photovoltaic modules or simi- 11 lar solar energy technologies; and 12 (ii) wind power systems; 13 (B) to store and discharge electricity from 14 batteries with a capacity of at least 2 kilowatt 15 hours; 16 (C) to charge a plug-in electric drive vehi- 17 cle at a power rate of at least 2 kilowatts; or 18 (D) to refuel a fuel cell electric vehicle. 19 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 20 the Secretary of Energy. 21 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OR DESIGNATION OF THE DIS- 22 TRIBUTED ENERGY OPPORTUNITY BOARD. 23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 24 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consulta- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2447.IS S2447 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2447 IS tion with trade associations and other entities representing 1 distributed energy system installers and organizations rep- 2 resenting State, local, and Tribal governments engaged in 3 permitting, shall establish or designate a nonprofit cor- 4 poration, to be known as the ‘‘Distributed Energy Oppor- 5 tunity Board’’, to carry out a voluntary program to 6 streamline the process for local permitting and inspection 7 of qualifying distributed energy systems. 8 (b) COMPOSITION.—The Board shall include rep- 9 resentatives from— 10 (1) relevant Federal agencies, or organizations 11 that represent those agencies; 12 (2) State, local, and Tribal governments, or or- 13 ganizations that represent those governments; 14 (3) distributed energy generation companies; 15 (4) battery storage companies; 16 (5) associations that represent the distributed 17 energy generation and battery storage industry; 18 (6) building code agencies and organizations, 19 including a model energy code-setting organization; 20 and 21 (7) other codes and standards organizations. 22 (c) PURPOSE AND ACTIVITIES OF THE BOARD.— 23 (1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Board is to 24 establish a voluntary program for facilitating— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2447.IS S2447 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2447 IS (A) streamlined permitting processes of 1 qualifying distributed energy systems; and 2 (B) certification of distributed energy sys- 3 tem installers. 4 (2) ACTIVITIES.—The Board shall— 5 (A) develop and maintain a streamlined 6 permitting process, such as a national online 7 permitting system and technology platform for 8 expediting, standardizing, and streamlining per- 9 mitting, that authorities having jurisdiction 10 may use, at the discretion of those authorities, 11 to receive, review, and approve permit applica- 12 tions relating to qualifying distributed energy 13 systems; 14 (B) establish a model expedited permit-to- 15 build protocol for qualifying distributed energy 16 systems; 17 (C) provide technical assistance to authori- 18 ties having jurisdiction on using and adopting— 19 (i) the streamlined permitting process 20 described in subparagraph (A); and 21 (ii) the model expedited permit-to- 22 build protocol described in subparagraph 23 (B); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2447.IS S2447 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2447 IS (D)(i) investigate the development of vol- 1 untary national certifications for distributed en- 2 ergy system installers and qualifying distributed 3 energy systems; and 4 (ii) if the Board determines that the na- 5 tional certifications would expedite and stream- 6 line the permitting and inspection process, de- 7 velop the voluntary national certifications; 8 (E) develop and maintain a voluntary na- 9 tional inspection protocol integrated with the 10 national online permitting system described in 11 subparagraphs (A) and (B) and related tools to 12 expedite, standardize, and streamline the in- 13 spection of qualifying distributed energy sys- 14 tems, including— 15 (i) by investigating the potential for 16 using remote inspections; and 17 (ii) by investigating the potential for 18 sample-based inspection for distributed en- 19 ergy system installers with a demonstrated 20 track record of high-quality work; and 21 (F) take any other action to expedite, 22 standardize, streamline, or improve the process 23 for permitting, inspecting, or interconnecting 24 qualifying distributed energy systems. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2447.IS S2447 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2447 IS (d) FEE AUTHORITY.—The Board may assess fees 1 for the provision of services by the Board in amounts de- 2 termined reasonable and appropriate by the Board, includ- 3 ing fees from participating distributed energy system in- 4 stallers relating to the activities of the Board described 5 in subsection (c)(2). 6 (e) NONPROFIT STATUS.—The Board shall be consid- 7 ered to be an organization described in section 501(c)(3) 8 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and exempt from 9 taxation under section 501(a) of that Code. 10 (f) SUPPORT SERVICES.—The Secretary shall— 11 (1) provide technical assistance to the Board in 12 carrying out the activities described in subsection 13 (c)(2); and 14 (2) provide such financial assistance to the 15 Board as the Secretary determines to be appropriate 16 from any funds appropriated to carry out this Act. 17 SEC. 4. DISTRIBUTED ENERGY OPPORTUNITY COMMU- 18 NITIES. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall recognize and 20 certify certain communities as ‘‘Distributed Energy Op- 21 portunity Communities’’. 22 (b) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Secretary may certify a 23 State, local community, or Tribe as a ‘‘Distributed Energy 24 Opportunity Community’’ if that State, local community, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2447.IS S2447 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2447 IS or Tribe has adopted and implemented the model expe- 1 dited permit-to-build protocol established by the Board. 2 (c) PROCESS.—The Secretary may confer a certifi- 3 cation under subsection (a) through existing programs of 4 the Department of Energy. 5 (d) GRANTS.—The Secretary may award competitive 6 grants, using funds appropriated to the Secretary to carry 7 out this Act, to encourage communities to adopt the model 8 expedited permit-to-build protocol and standardized in- 9 spection processes established by the Board. 10 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 11 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec- 12 retary to carry out this Act $20,000,000 for each of fiscal 13 years 2019 through 2024. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2447.IS S2447 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS