42 U.S.C. § 17384 — Smart grid technology research, development, and demonstration
submitted 19 years ago by Pub. L. 110-140 to r/title-42-THE-PUBLIC-HEALTH-AND-WELFARE · 817 words · no verdicts yet
The Secretary must conduct Smart Grid research and a regional demonstration initiative. The program addresses measurement, demand response, communications, reliability, pricing, software, vehicle storage, and grid technologies, with public data, open standards, cost-sharing, and specified appropriations.
(a) Digital grid information technology. Consulting FERC, appropriate agencies, utilities, States, and other stakeholders, the Secretary* must run research, development, and demonstration work to (1) develop ways to measure peak-load reductions and efficiency savings from smart meters, demand response, distributed generation, and storage; (2) study ancillary services from those resources; (3) advance wide-area measurement and control networks, including data mining, visualization, advanced computing, and secure dependable communications in distributed environments; (4) test reliability technologies, including communications, in control rooms against local-outage and wide-area-blackout scenarios; (5) identify network capacity needed for advanced technologies; (6) study moving to time-of-use and real-time pricing; (7) develop electric-transmission software algorithms; (8) encourage use of underused generation when electricity replaces liquid transportation fuels; and (9) with FERC, propose interconnection protocols allowing utilities to use vehicle-stored electricity for peak demand. (b) Regional initiative. (1) The Secretary must establish an initiative of demonstrations focused on cost-effective advanced sensing, communications, analysis, power-flow control, visualization, automation, industrial controls, dynamic line ratings, redesign, and distributed-energy integration. (2) Its goals are to show regional benefits of concentrated investment; ease the commercial shift from current to advanced systems; integrate advanced technology into existing networks for performance, flow control, and reliability; demonstrate standards measuring and validating efficiency savings and fossil-fuel emission reductions; study regional and regulatory differences in best practices*; and encourage intelligent distribution automation that improves resilience. (3)(A) The Secretary must financially support projects in urban, suburban, tribal, and rural areas, including nonprofit-controlled and investor-owned utility assets. (B) Each project* must cooperate with the utility owning the facilities in its control area. (C) The Secretary may fund up to 50 percent of qualifying advanced-grid investment costs. (D) Participants cannot receive section 17386 grants for otherwise qualifying investments made in these projects. (E) The Secretary must timely maintain a public Smart Grid information clearinghouse containing project and other data. Participants must provide required information in the required form and time. Business-proprietary and individual-customer information must be excluded. (F) Funding must require open protocols and standards, including Internet-based ones, when available and appropriate. (c) Appropriations. Necessary sums are authorized for subsection (a) for each fiscal year 2008 through 2012 and for subsection (b) as necessary.
The Secretary*, in consultation with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other appropriate agencies, electric utilities, the States, and other stakeholders, shall carry out a research, development, and demonstration program—
to develop advanced techniques for measuring peak load reductions and energy-efficiency savings from smart metering, demand response, distributed generation, and electricity storage systems;
to investigate means for demand response, distributed generation, and storage to provide ancillary services;
to conduct research to advance the use of wide-area measurement and control networks, including data mining, visualization, advanced computing, and secure and dependable communications in a highly-distributed environment;
to test new reliability technologies, including those concerning communications network capabilities, in a grid control room environment against a representative set of local outage and wide area blackout scenarios;
to identify communications network capacity needed to implement advanced technologies.1
to investigate the feasibility of a transition to time-of-use and real-time electricity pricing;
to develop algorithms for use in electric transmission system software applications;
to promote the use of underutilized electricity generation capacity in any substitution of electricity for liquid fuels in the transportation system of the United States; and
in consultation with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to propose interconnection protocols to enable electric utilities to access electricity stored in vehicles to help meet peak demand loads.
The Secretary shall establish a smart grid regional demonstration initiative (referred to in this subsection as the “Initiative”) composed of demonstration projects focused on cost-effective, advanced technologies for use in power grid sensing, communications, analysis, power flow control, visualization, distribution automation, industrial control systems, dynamic line rating systems, grid redesign, and the integration of distributed energy resources.
The goals of the Initiative shall be—
to demonstrate the potential benefits of concentrated investments in advanced grid technologies on a regional grid;
to facilitate the commercial transition from the current power transmission and distribution system technologies to advanced technologies;
to facilitate the integration of advanced technologies in existing electric networks to improve system performance, power flow control, and reliability;
to demonstrate protocols and standards that allow for the measurement and validation of the energy savings and fossil fuel emission reductions associated with the installation and use of energy efficiency and demand response technologies and practices*;
to investigate differences in each region and regulatory environment regarding best practices in implementing smart grid technologies; and
to encourage the commercial application of advanced distribution automation technologies that exert intelligent control over electrical grid functions at the distribution level to improve system resilience.
In carrying out the initiative,2 the Secretary shall provide financial support to smart grid demonstration projects in urban, suburban, tribal, and rural areas, including areas where electric system assets are controlled by nonprofit entities and areas where electric system assets are controlled by investor-owned utilities.
A demonstration project* under subparagraph (A) shall be carried out in cooperation with the electric utility that owns the grid facilities in the electricity control area in which the demonstration project is carried out.
The Secretary shall provide to an electric utility described in subparagraph (B) or to other parties financial assistance for use in paying an amount equal to not more than 50 percent of the cost of qualifying advanced grid technology investments made by the electric utility or other party to carry out a demonstration project.
No person or entity participating in any demonstration project conducted under this subsection shall be eligible for grants under section 17386 of this title for otherwise qualifying investments made as part of that demonstration project.
The Secretary shall establish and maintain a smart grid information clearinghouse in a timely manner which will make data from smart grid demonstration projects and other sources available to the public. As a condition of receiving financial assistance under this subsection, a utility or other participant in a smart grid demonstration project shall provide such information as the Secretary may require to become available through the smart grid information clearinghouse in the form and within the timeframes as directed by the Secretary. The Secretary shall assure that business proprietary information and individual customer information is not included in the information made available through the clearinghouse.
The Secretary shall require as a condition of receiving funding under this subsection that demonstration projects utilize open protocols and standards (including Internet-based protocols and standards) if available and appropriate.
There are authorized to be appropriated—
to carry out subsection (a), such sums as are necessary for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012; and
to carry out subsection (b), such sums as may be necessary.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 110–140, title XIII, § 1304, Dec. 19, 2007, 121 Stat. 1786; Pub. L. 111–5, div. A, title IV, § 405(1)–(4), Feb. 17, 2009, 123 Stat. 143, 144; Pub. L. 116–260, div. Z, title VIII, § 8001, Dec. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 2578.)
- 2007Enacted · Pub. L. 110-140 · 121 Stat. 1786
- 2009Amended · Pub. L. 111-5 · 123 Stat. 143, 144
- 2020Amended · Pub. L. 116-260 · 134 Stat. 2578
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 110-140 on 2007-12-19.
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