Consumer Access to Grid Information Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5649 To direct the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to establish a grant program to fund research and development with respect to certain cellular phone applications, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 16, 2020 Ms. PORTER (for herself, Ms. STEVENS, and Mr. TONKO) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology A BILL To direct the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to establish a grant program to fund research and development with respect to certain cellular phone applications, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Consumer Access to 4 Grid Information Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5649.IH H5649 2 •HR 5649 IH SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR CELLULAR PHONE APPLICA- 1 TIONS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 3 date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary 4 shall establish a grant program under which the Assistant 5 Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities to carry 6 out an eligible project described in subsection (b). 7 (b) ELIGIBLE PROJECT.—An eligible entity receiving 8 a grant under subsection (a) may use grant funds for re- 9 search and development activities with respect to the cre- 10 ation of a cellular phone application that allows the public 11 to monitor an applicable power grid, including providing 12 a user with the ability to— 13 (1) receive grid system alerts; 14 (2) view the status of the grid, including— 15 (A) current demand for power; 16 (B) the forecasted peak demand for power; 17 and 18 (C) trends in demand for power; 19 (3) monitor power grid capacity; 20 (4) visualize, through a chart or graph— 21 (A) the types of energy sources that are 22 serving the grid, including clean energy sources 23 and other energy sources, as applicable; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5649.IH H5649 3 •HR 5649 IH (B) the percentage of power that is being 1 provided to the grid from each such energy 2 source; 3 (C) the power supply in response to de- 4 mand on the grid, with a display of the dif- 5 ferent types of energy sources being used to 6 meet demand; and 7 (D) the carbon dioxide emissions resulting 8 from energy use with respect to the grid, in- 9 cluding a breakdown showing the percentage of 10 emissions coming from any energy sources cre- 11 ating such emissions; and 12 (5) monitor energy prices in each region served 13 by an independent system operator. 14 (c) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 15 under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 16 Assistant Secretary an application in such form, at such 17 time, and containing such information as the Assistant 18 Secretary determines necessary. 19 (d) OUTREACH.—The Assistant Secretary shall con- 20 duct such outreach as the Assistant Secretary determines 21 is necessary to ensure that eligible entities are aware of 22 the existence of the grant program established under this 23 section. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5649.IH H5649 4 •HR 5649 IH SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) APPLICABLE POWER GRID; GRID.—The 3 terms ‘‘applicable power grid’’ and ‘‘grid’’ mean a 4 power grid overseen by an eligible entity. 5 (2) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist- 6 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of the 7 Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 8 of the Department of Energy. 9 (3) CELLULAR PHONE APPLICATION.—The 10 term ‘‘cellular phone application’’ means a software 11 application that enables the performance of specific 12 tasks that may be run on a computer, a mobile de- 13 vice, the internet, or any other electronic device. 14 (4) CLEAN ENERGY SOURCE.—The term ‘‘clean 15 energy source’’ means a fuel, electrical, or energy 16 source that significantly limits or avoids greenhouse 17 gas emissions, as determined by the Secretary. 18 (5) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 19 ty’’ means an independent system operator, regional 20 transmission organization, or other transmission sys- 21 tem operator. 22 (6) INDEPENDENT SYSTEM OPERATOR.—The 23 term ‘‘independent system operator’’ has the mean- 24 ing given such term in section 3 of the Federal 25 Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5649.IH H5649 5 •HR 5649 IH (7) LOAD.—The term ‘‘load’’ means the total 1 amount of electrical power that is demanded by 2 users of the grid. 3 (8) REGIONAL TRANSMISSION ORGANIZATION.— 4 The term ‘‘regional transmission organization’’ has 5 the meaning given such term in section 3 of the 6 Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5649.IH H5649