42 U.S.C. § 17232 — Better energy storage technology
submitted 6 years ago by Pub. L. 116-260 to r/title-42-THE-PUBLIC-HEALTH-AND-WELFARE · 2,916 words · no verdicts yet
This section establishes a Department of Energy program for researching, testing, demonstrating, and deploying energy-storage systems. It covers storage from short hourly periods through seasonal use, pilot grants, long-duration projects, pumped storage, privacy, coordination, and funding.
(a) Definitions: "Energy storage system" means a system, equipment, facility, or technology able to absorb or convert energy, store it, and dispatch it, and that (i) stores previously generated electricity through mechanical, electrochemical, thermal, electrolysis, or other processes; (ii) stores energy from otherwise-wasted mechanical processes through mechanical, electrochemical, biochemical, or thermal processes; or (iii) stores energy electrically, thermally, or as gas for later direct heating or cooling without later electricity or fuel use, such as a grid-enabled water heater. "Program" means the program under (b)(1). "Secretary" means the Secretary of Energy.
(b) Program: (1) Within 180 days after December 27, 2020, the Secretary must establish the Energy Storage System Research, Development, and Deployment Program. (2) It must focus on storage systems, components, and materials for large-scale deployment; Secretary-set cost targets; hourly and subhourly reliability services; daily discharge of at least six hours; weekly or monthly discharge of at least 10 to 100 hours; and seasonal supply-demand variation. It must also cover distributed storage and building-grid integration; long-term cost, performance, and demonstration targets, including for rural areas; transportation storage and vehicle-grid integration; sustainable and secure sourcing, reclamation, recycling, and disposal, including critical minerals, plus reuse and repurposing; advanced controls; pumped hydropower, including adjustable-speed and other new equipment, modular systems, closed-loop mines and quarries, other Secretary-approved equipment and materials, and lower civil-works costs and construction times supported by comprehensive construction data and analysis; models for water and power systems, generation-portfolio optimization, and expanded renewable deployment; storage use cases and services; and advanced manufacturing that improves United States competitiveness or reduces dependence on critical materials. (3) With one or more National Laboratories, the Secretary must support development, standardized testing, and validation, including test beds and field trials, and methods for testing storage technologies, controls, and power electronics under varied conditions; grid performance at each development stage; reliability, safety, degradation, and durability under standard and changing duty cycles; and accelerated life tests that accurately predict lifetime. (4) At least yearly, the Secretary must evaluate and, if needed, update objectives to move storage toward broad commercial use by lowering costs and increasing duration. (5) The Secretary must create a ten-year strategic plan. It must coordinate relevant Department offices; include practicable storage metrics; identify programs supporting the research and demonstrations and other important programs; give timelines for current objectives and new initiatives; and include relevant Grid Modernization Initiative plan activities. Within 180 days after December 27, 2020, it must be sent to the named Senate and House committees. The Secretary must review it yearly and may revise it. (6) The program may be led by one office but must use existing federal resources, at minimum the Office of Electricity, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy including Water Power Technologies, the Office of Science programs for Basic Energy Sciences, Advanced Scientific Computing Research, and Biological and Environmental Research, and the Electricity Storage Research Initiative under section 16315. (7) The Secretary must use privacy and security best practices*, manage privacy risk, and apply Federal Trade Commission Fair Information Practice Principles and OMB Circular A-130 (or successors) to individual electric-consumer information.
(c) Demonstrations and pilot grants: (1) By September 30, 2023, the Secretary must, as practicable, agree to three demonstrations, including one for weekly or monthly or seasonal technologies and one showing second-life electric-vehicle batteries aggregated to serve the grid. (2) Eligible entities are state* energy offices; Indian Tribes; Tribal organizations; higher-education institutions; electric utilities including cooperatives, state subdivisions and their instrumentalities, and investor-owned utilities; and private storage companies. The Secretary must create competitive grants for pilot demonstrations. Selection should ensure regional diversity, rural and high-energy-cost states, projects expanding Department demonstrations, meeting at least one listed objective, and injecting or withdrawing energy from the local bulk system, distribution system, building system, or connected or islanded microgrid; consider competitive procurement or service contracts; and prioritize nonfederal matching funds. Objectives include critical-infrastructure and emergency security; transmission and distribution reliability, especially rural; avoiding or deferring grid upgrades; peak or variable-supply service; reducing home and business peaks; better power conversion; ancillary grid services; renewable integration; feasible microgrids; non-electric stored energy for natural-gas and industrial processes; fast vehicle charging; and efficiency. (3) The Secretary must demonstrate second-life batteries for grid services: safety and reliability; ancillary services and reduced home and business peaks; extended useful life before collection, recycling, and reprocessing; and utility acceptance. Priority goes to projects paired with facilities benefiting from resilience and lower costs, such as affordable multifamily housing, senior care, or community health centers. (4) At least every three years during these programs, the Secretary must report publicly to Congress on performance. (5) The federal government may not own an equity or other ownership interest in a project* system unless every participant agrees.
(d) Long-duration initiative: (1) "Initiative" and "Joint Program" mean those created here. (2) Within 180 days after December 27, 2020, the Secretary must establish demonstrations focused on long-duration storage. (3) Selection should include varied technologies and regions and bulk, distribution, behind-the-meter, microgrid, and off-grid uses. (4) With Defense, the Secretary must create a joint program to demonstrate promising long-duration technologies at different scales and help innovative technologies become commercially viable; within 200 days the agencies must sign an agreement. They must use existing Department and Defense test beds and, when appropriate, build new infrastructure; create progress goals and measures consistent with resilience and security; select varied physical and market conditions and a balance of large/high-cost and small/low-cost projects; and prioritize field projects that publicly share information accelerating deployment.
(e) Pumped-storage initiative: Eligible entities are specified electric utilities, cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, Tribes or Tribal organizations, state energy offices, higher-education institutions, and consortia of them. By September 30, 2023, the Secretary should fund project design, transmission studies, market assessments, and permitting for pumped storage of intermittent renewable electricity. A project must be designed for at least 1,000 megawatts, serve more than one organized market, store intermittent renewable electricity from Tribal lands, and have a preliminary FERC permit. The recipient must match at least the federal assistance. The section authorizes $2 million yearly for fiscal years 2022-2026.
(f) Omitted.
(g) Coordination: The Secretary should coordinate Department, federal-agency, and other relevant activities to collaborate, avoid unnecessary duplication, and increase domestic storage manufacturing and production, including through Department and National Institute of Standards and Technology work.
(h) Appropriations: The section authorizes the specified annual amounts for subsections (b) and (c) for fiscal years 2021-2025, remaining available until expended, and the other amounts and periods stated in the official text.
In this section:
The term “energy storage system” means any system, equipment, facility, or technology that—
is capable of absorbing or converting energy, storing the energy for a period of time, and dispatching the energy; and
uses mechanical, electrochemical, thermal, electrolysis, or other processes to convert and store electric energy that was generated at an earlier time for use at a later time;
uses mechanical, electrochemical, biochemical, or thermal processes to convert and store energy generated from mechanical processes that would otherwise be wasted, for delivery at a later time; or
stores energy in an electric, thermal, or gaseous state* for direct use for heating or cooling at a later time in a manner that avoids the need to use electricity or other fuel sources at that later time, such as a grid-enabled water heater.
The term “program” means the Energy Storage System Research, Development, and Deployment Program established under subsection (b)(1).
The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Energy.
Not later than 180 days after December 27, 2020, the Secretary shall establish a program, to be known as the Energy Storage System Research, Development, and Deployment Program.
The program shall focus on research, development, and deployment of—
energy storage systems, components, and materials designed to further the development of technologies—
for large-scale commercial deployment;
for deployment at cost targets established by the Secretary;
for hourly and subhourly durations required to provide reliability services to the grid;
for daily durations, which have the capacity to discharge energy for a minimum of 6 hours;
for weekly or monthly durations, which have the capacity to discharge energy for 10 to 100 hours, at a minimum; and
for seasonal durations, which have the capability to address seasonal variations in supply and demand;
distributed energy storage technologies and applications, including building-grid integration;
long-term cost, performance, and demonstration targets for different types of energy storage systems and for use in a variety of regions, including rural areas;
transportation energy storage technologies and applications, including vehicle-grid integration;
cost-effective systems and methods for—
the sustainable and secure sourcing, reclamation, recycling, and disposal of energy storage systems, including critical minerals; and
the reuse and repurposing of energy storage system technologies;
advanced control methods for energy storage systems;
pumped hydroelectric energy storage systems to advance—
adoption of innovative technologies, including—
systems with adjustable-speed and other new pumping and generating equipment designs;
modular systems;
closed-loop systems, including mines and quarries; and
other innovative equipment and materials as determined by the Secretary; and
reductions of civil works costs and construction times for hydropower and pumped storage systems, including comprehensive data and systems analysis of hydropower and pumped storage construction technologies and processes in order to identify areas for whole-system efficiency gains;
models and tools to demonstrate the costs and benefits of energy storage to—
power and water supply systems;
electric generation portfolio optimization; and
expanded deployment of other renewable energy technologies, including in integrated energy storage systems;
energy storage use cases from individual and combination technology applications, including value from various-use cases and energy storage services; and
advanced manufacturing technologies that have the potential to improve United States competitiveness in energy storage manufacturing or reduce United States dependence on critical materials.
In coordination with 1 or more National Laboratories, the Secretary shall support the development, standardized testing, and validation of energy storage systems under the program, including test-bed and field trials, by developing testing and evaluation methodologies for—
storage technologies, controls, and power electronics for energy storage systems under a variety of operating conditions;
standardized and grid performance testing for energy storage systems, materials, and technologies during each stage of development;
reliability, safety, degradation, and durability testing under standard and evolving duty cycles; and
accelerated life testing protocols to predict estimated lifetime metrics with accuracy.
Not less frequently than once every calendar year, the Secretary shall evaluate and, if necessary, update the program objectives to ensure that the program continues to advance energy storage systems toward widespread commercial deployment by lowering the costs and increasing the duration of energy storage resources.
The Secretary shall develop a 10-year strategic plan for the program, and update the plan, in accordance with this paragraph.
The strategic plan developed under subparagraph (A) shall—
be coordinated with and integrated across other relevant offices in the Department;
to the extent practicable, include metrics that can be used to evaluate storage technologies;
identify Department programs that—
support the research and development activities described in paragraph (2) and the demonstration projects under subsection (c); and
do not support the activities or projects described in subclause (I); but
are important to the development of energy storage systems and the mission of the Department, as determined by the Secretary;
include expected timelines for—
the accomplishment of relevant objectives under current programs of the Department relating to energy storage systems; and
the commencement of any new initiatives within the Department relating to energy storage systems to accomplish those objectives; and
incorporate relevant activities described in the Grid Modernization Initiative Multi-Year Program Plan.
Not later than 180 days after December 27, 2020, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committees on Energy and Commerce and Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives the strategic plan developed under subparagraph (A).
The Secretary—
shall annually review the strategic plan developed under subparagraph (A); and
may periodically revise the strategic plan as appropriate.
The program may be led by a specific office of the Department, but shall be cross-cutting in nature, so that in carrying out activities under the program, the Secretary (or a designee of the Secretary charged with leading the program) shall leverage existing Federal resources, including, at a minimum, the expertise and resources of—
the Office of Electricity;
the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, including the Water Power Technologies Office; and
the Office of Science, including—
the Basic Energy Sciences Program;
the Advanced Scientific Computing Research Program;
the Biological and Environmental Research Program; and
the Electricity Storage Research Initiative established under section 16315 of this title.
In carrying out this subsection, the Secretary shall identify, incorporate, and follow best practices* for protecting the privacy of individuals and businesses and the respective sensitive data of the individuals and businesses, including by managing privacy risk and implementing the Fair Information Practice Principles of the Federal Trade Commission for the collection, use, disclosure, and retention of individual electric consumer information in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget Circular A–130 (or successor circulars).
Not later than September 30, 2023, the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, enter into agreements to carry out 3 energy storage system demonstration projects, including—
at least 1 energy storage system demonstration project* designed to further the development of technologies described in clause (v) or (vi) of subsection (b)(2)(A); and
1 project to demonstrate second-life applications of electric vehicle batteries as aggregated energy storage installations to provide services to the electric grid, in accordance with paragraph (3).
In this paragraph, the term “eligible entity” means—
a State energy office (as defined in section 15821(a) of this title);
an Indian Tribe (as defined in section 4103 of title 25; 1
a Tribal organization (as defined in section 3765 of title 38);
an institution of higher education* (as defined in section 1001 of title 20);
an electric utility, including—
an electric cooperative;
a political subdivision of a State, such as a municipally owned electric utility, or any agency, authority, corporation, or instrumentality of a State political subdivision; and
an investor-owned utility; and
a private energy storage company.
The Secretary shall establish a competitive grant program under which the Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities to carry out demonstration projects for pilot energy storage systems.
In selecting eligible entities to receive a grant under subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable—
ensure regional diversity among eligible entities awarded grants, including ensuring participation of eligible entities that are rural States and States with high energy costs;
ensure that grants are awarded for demonstration projects that—
expand on the existing technology demonstration programs of the Department;
are designed to achieve 1 or more of the objectives described in subparagraph (D); and
inject or withdraw energy from the bulk power system, electric distribution system, building energy system, or microgrid (grid-connected or islanded mode) where the project is located;
give consideration to proposals from eligible entities for securing energy storage through competitive procurement or contract for service; and
prioritize projects that leverage matching funds from non-Federal sources.
Each demonstration project carried out by a grant awarded under subparagraph (B) shall have 1 or more of the following objectives:
To improve the security of critical infrastructure and emergency response systems.
To improve the reliability of transmission and distribution systems, particularly in rural areas, including high-energy cost rural areas.
To optimize transmission or distribution system operation and power quality to defer or avoid costs of replacing or upgrading electric grid infrastructure, including transformers and substations.
To supply energy at peak periods of demand on the electric grid or during periods of significant variation of electric grid supply.
To reduce peak loads of homes and businesses.
To improve and advance power conversion systems.
To provide ancillary services for grid stability and management.
To integrate renewable energy resource production.
To increase the feasibility of microgrids (grid-connected or islanded mode).
To enable the use of stored energy in forms other than electricity to support the natural gas system and other industrial processes.
To integrate fast charging of electric vehicles.
To improve energy efficiency.
The Secretary shall enter into an agreement to carry out a project to demonstrate second-life applications of electric vehicle batteries as aggregated energy storage installations to provide services to the electric grid.
The purposes of the project under subparagraph (A) shall be—
to demonstrate power safety and the reliability of the applications demonstrated under the program;
to demonstrate the ability of electric vehicle batteries—
to provide ancillary services for grid stability and management; and
to reduce the peak loads of homes and businesses;
to extend the useful life of electric vehicle batteries and the components of electric vehicle batteries prior to the collection, recycling, and reprocessing of the batteries and components; and
to increase acceptance of, and participation in, the use of second-life applications of electric vehicle batteries by utilities.
In selecting a project to carry out under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall give priority to projects in which the demonstration of the applicable second-life applications is paired with 1 or more facilities that could particularly benefit from increased resiliency and lower energy costs, such as a multi-family affordable housing facility, a senior care facility, and a community health center.
Not less frequently than once every 3 years for the duration of the programs under paragraphs (1) and (2), the Secretary shall submit to Congress and make publicly available a report describing the performance of those programs.
The Federal Government shall not hold any equity or other ownership interest in any energy storage system that is part of a project under this subsection unless the holding is agreed to by each participant of the project.
In this subsection:
The term “Initiative” means the demonstration initiative established under paragraph (2).
The term “Joint Program” means the joint program established under paragraph (4).
Not later than 180 days after December 27, 2020, the Secretary shall establish a demonstration initiative composed of demonstration projects focused on the development of long-duration energy storage technologies.
To the maximum extent practicable, in selecting demonstration projects to participate in the Initiative, the Secretary shall—
ensure a range of technology types;
ensure regional diversity among projects; and
consider bulk power level, distribution power level, behind-the-meter, microgrid (gridconnected or islanded mode), and off-grid applications.
As part of the Initiative, the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall establish within the Department a joint program to carry out projects—
to demonstrate promising long-duration energy storage technologies at different scales; and
to help new, innovative long-duration energy storage technologies become commercially viable.
Not later than 200 days after December 27, 2020, the Secretary shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Secretary of Defense to administer the Joint Program.
In carrying out the Joint Program, the Secretary and the Secretary of Defense shall—
use existing test-bed infrastructure at—
Department facilities; and
Department of Defense installations; and
develop new infrastructure for identified projects, if appropriate.
The Secretary and the Secretary of Defense shall develop goals and metrics for technological progress under the Joint Program consistent with energy resilience and energy security policies.
To the maximum extent practicable, in selecting projects to participate in the Joint Program, the Secretary and the Secretary of Defense shall—
ensure that projects are carried out under conditions that represent a variety of environments with different physical conditions and market constraints; and
ensure an appropriate balance of—
larger, higher-cost projects; and
smaller, lower-cost projects.
In carrying out the Joint Program, the Secretary and the Secretary of Defense shall give priority to demonstration projects that—
make available to the public project information that will accelerate deployment of long-duration energy storage technologies; and
will be carried out in the field.
In this subsection, the term “eligible entity” means—
an electric utility, including—
a political subdivision of a State, such as a municipally owned electric utility; or
an instrumentality of a State composed of municipally owned electric utilities;
an electric cooperative; or
an investor-owned utility;
an Indian Tribe or Tribal organization;
a State energy office;
an institution of higher education; and
a consortium* of the entities described in subparagraphs (A) through (D).
Not later than September 30, 2023, the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, enter into an agreement with an eligible entity to provide financial assistance to the eligible entity to carry out project design, transmission studies, power market assessments, and permitting for a pumped storage hydropower project to facilitate the long-duration storage of intermittent renewable electricity.
To be eligible for financial assistance under subparagraph (A), a project shall—
be designed to provide not less than 1,000 megawatts of storage capacity;
be able to provide energy and capacity for use in more than 1 organized electricity market;
be able to store electricity generated by intermittent renewable electricity projects located on Tribal land; and
have received a preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
An eligible entity receiving financial assistance under subparagraph (A) shall provide matching funds equal to or greater than the amount of financial assistance provided under that subparagraph.
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subsection $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary shall coordinate the activities under this section (including activities conducted pursuant to the amendments made by this section) among the offices and employees of the Department, other Federal agencies, and other relevant entities—
to ensure appropriate collaboration;
to avoid unnecessary duplication of those activities; and
to increase domestic manufacturing and production of energy storage systems, such as those within the Department and within the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
There are authorized to be appropriated—
to carry out subsection (b), $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025, to remain available until expended;
to carry out subsection (c), $71,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025, to remain available until expended; and
to carry out subsection (d), $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025, to remain available until expended.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 116–260, div. Z, title III, § 3201, Dec. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 2517; Pub. L. 117–58, div. D, title I, § 40112, title III, § 40334, Nov. 15, 2021, 135 Stat. 946, 1024.)
- 2020Enacted · Pub. L. 116-260 · 134 Stat. 2517
- 2021Amended · Pub. L. 117-58 · 135 Stat. 946, 1024
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 116-260 on 2020-12-27.
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