42 U.S.C. § 18711 — Preventing outages and enhancing the resilience of the electric grid
submitted 5 years ago by Pub. L. 117-58 to r/title-42-THE-PUBLIC-HEALTH-AND-WELFARE · 1,953 words · no verdicts yet
This section creates a Department of Energy grant program to make the electric grid more resilient. It funds eligible utilities directly, and also funds States and Indian Tribes to run their own sub-grant programs. It sets matching-fund rules, spending priorities, and reporting duties, with $5 billion authorized through 2026.
(a) Definitions. (1) "Disruptive event" means the grid is disrupted, shut off as a precaution, or can't run safely because of extreme weather, wildfire, or a natural disaster. (2) "Eligible entity" means an electric grid operator, an electricity storage operator, an electricity generator, a transmission owner* or operator, a distribution provider, a fuel supplier, or any other entity the Secretary* names. (3) "Natural disaster" has the meaning given in another federal law. (4) "Power line" includes transmission lines and distribution lines. (5) "Program" means the program created in subsection (b).
(b) Establishment of program. Within 180 days of November 15, 2021, the Secretary must create a grant program for eligible entities, States, and Indian Tribes.
(c) Grants to eligible entities. (1) The Secretary may give an eligible entity a grant for activities that (A) go beyond the entity's already-planned hardening work for that year, and either (B)(i) reduce the risk that its power lines start a wildfire, or (ii) improve its ability to reduce the likelihood and effects of disruptive events. (2) An entity applies as the Secretary requires, and, as a condition of the grant, must also submit a report on its past, current, and future efforts to reduce disruptive events. (3) The Secretary cannot give a grant larger than the total the entity spent on this kind of work over the previous 3 years. (4) The Secretary must prioritize projects that will bring the greatest community benefit, whether rural or urban. (5) At least 30% of the money given to eligible entities under the program must go to small utilities — those selling no more than 4,000,000 megawatt-hours of electricity a year.
(d) Grants to States and Indian Tribes. (1) The Secretary may give grants to States and Indian Tribes, which they may use to award their own grants to eligible entities. (2) Each fiscal year, a State* or Tribe applies with a plan that (A) describes the criteria and methods it will use to pick grantees, (B) is adopted only after public notice and a hearing, and (C) describes the planned funding amounts and recipients. (3) The Secretary must distribute these grants using a formula based on: (i) the State's or Tribe's total population; (ii)(I) its total land area, or (II) areas with a low ratio of electricity customers per mile of power line; (iii) how often disruptive events happened there over the prior 10 years, based on the number of federally declared disasters or emergencies, including Fire Management Assistance Grant disasters, presidentially declared major disasters, presidentially declared emergencies, and any other federally declared disaster or emergency; (iv) the number and severity — measured by population and economic impact — of disruptive events since January 1, 2011; and (v) per-capita public and private spending over the prior 10 years on reducing disruptive events, giving more weight to States or Tribes that spent more per person. Starting 1 year after November 15, 2021, the Secretary must update this formula data every year. (4) The Secretary must make sure each grant is used, under the State's or Tribe's plan, only for projects inside that State or on that Tribe's land. (5) States and Tribes must also prioritize the greatest community benefit when picking their own grantees. (6) A State or Tribe must make sure the share of its sub-grant money going to small utilities is at least as large as the share of its customers those small utilities serve. (7) A State or Tribe may use up to 5% of its yearly grant for technical assistance and program administration. (8) Each State and Tribe must match 15% of the amount of its grant.
(e) Use of grants. (1) Grant money may be used for activities, technologies, equipment, and hardening measures that reduce disruptive events, including: (A) weatherization technology and equipment; (B) fire-resistant technology and fire-prevention systems; (C) monitoring and control technology; (D) undergrounding electrical equipment; (E) utility pole management; (F) relocating power lines or replacing them with low-sag advanced conductors; (G) vegetation and fuel-load management; (H) distributed energy resources for resilience, including microgrids and battery storage; (I) adaptive protection technology; (J) advanced modeling technology; (K) hardening power lines, facilities, and substations; and (L) replacing old overhead conductors and underground cables. (2) Grant money may not be used for: (A)(i) building a new electric generating facility, or a large battery-storage facility not used for resilience, or (ii) cybersecurity. (B) An entity cannot separately recover, through utility rates, any part of a project's cost that the grant already covered — but it may still recover through rates any part of an investment the grant did not fund. (C) An entity cannot apply for both a Secretary grant under subsection (c) and a State or Tribe grant under subsection (d) in the same application cycle.
(f) Distribution of funding. Each fiscal year, 50% of the program's funds must go to eligible-entity grants under subsection (c), and 50% must go to State and Tribe grants under subsection (d).
(g) Technical and other assistance. (1) The Secretary, States, and Tribes may (A) give technical assistance and share information to help reduce disruptive events, and (B) publish consumer-facing information on best practices* and resources. (2) The Secretary may use up to 5% of the program's yearly funds for this assistance and related administration.
(h) Matching requirement. (1) Generally, an eligible entity that gets a grant must match 100% of the grant amount. (2) Small utilities — selling no more than 4,000,000 megawatt-hours a year — only have to match one-third of the grant.
(i) Biennial report to Congress. (1) Starting 2 years after November 15, 2021, and every 2 years through 2026, the Secretary must report to the Senate Energy Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee describing the program. (2) Each report must cover: (A) the costs of funded projects; (B) the types of activities, technologies, and hardening measures the grants paid for; and (C) how much more the grid can now withstand disruptive events.
(j) Authorization of appropriations. $5,000,000,000 is authorized for the Secretary to carry out the program over fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
In this section:
The term “disruptive event” means an event in which operations of the electric grid are disrupted, preventively shut off, or cannot operate safely due to extreme weather, wildfire, or a natural disaster.
The term “eligible entity” means—
an electric grid operator;
an electricity storage operator;
an electricity generator;
a transmission owner* or operator;
a distribution provider;
a fuel supplier; and
any other relevant entity, as determined by the Secretary*.
The term “natural disaster” has the meaning given the term in section 5195a(a) of this title.
The term “power line” includes a transmission line or a distribution line, as applicable.
The term “program” means the program established under subsection (b).
Not later than 180 days after November 15, 2021, the Secretary shall establish a program under which the Secretary shall make grants to eligible entities, States, and Indian Tribes in accordance with this section.
The Secretary may make a grant under the program to an eligible entity to carry out activities that—
are supplemental to existing hardening efforts of the eligible entity planned for any given year; and
reduce the risk of any power lines owned or operated by the eligible entity causing a wildfire; or
increase the ability of the eligible entity to reduce the likelihood and consequences of disruptive events.
An eligible entity desiring a grant under the program shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require.
As a condition of receiving a grant under the program, an eligible entity shall submit to the Secretary, as part of the application of the eligible entity submitted under subparagraph (A), a report detailing past, current, and future efforts by the eligible entity to reduce the likelihood and consequences of disruptive events.
The Secretary may not award a grant to an eligible entity in an amount that is greater than the total amount that the eligible entity has spent in the previous 3 years on efforts to reduce the likelihood and consequences of disruptive events.
In making grants to eligible entities under the program, the Secretary shall give priority to projects that, in the determination of the Secretary, will generate the greatest community benefit (whether rural or urban) in reducing the likelihood and consequences of disruptive events.
The Secretary shall ensure that not less than 30 percent of the amounts made available to eligible entities under the program are made available to eligible entities that sell not more than 4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year.
The Secretary, in accordance with this subsection, may make grants under the program to States and Indian Tribes, which each State* or Indian Tribe may use to award grants to eligible entities.
For each fiscal year, to be eligible to receive a grant under this subsection, a State or Indian Tribe shall submit to the Secretary an application that includes a plan described in subparagraph (B).
A plan prepared by a State or Indian Tribe for purposes of an application described in subparagraph (A) shall—
describe the criteria and methods that will be used by the State or Indian Tribe to award grants to eligible entities;
be adopted after notice and a public hearing; and
describe the proposed funding distributions and recipients of the grants to be provided by the State or Indian Tribe.
The Secretary shall provide grants to States and Indian Tribes under this subsection based on a formula determined by the Secretary, in accordance with subparagraph (B).
The formula referred to in subparagraph (A) shall be based on the following factors:
The total population of the State or Indian Tribe.
The total area of the State or the land of the Indian Tribe; or
the areas in the State or on the land of the Indian Tribe with a low ratio of electricity customers per mileage of power lines.
The probability of disruptive events in the State or on the land of the Indian Tribe during the previous 10 years, as determined based on the number of federally declared disasters or emergencies in the State or on the land of the Indian Tribe, as applicable, including—
disasters for which Fire Management Assistance Grants are provided under section 5187 of this title;
major disasters declared by the President under section 5170 of this title;
emergencies declared by the President under section 5191 of this title; and
any other federally declared disaster or emergency in the State or on the land of the Indian Tribe.
The number and severity, measured by population and economic impacts, of disruptive events experienced by the State or Indian Tribe on or after January 1, 2011.
The total amount, on a per capita basis, of public and private expenditures during the previous 10 years to carry out mitigation efforts to reduce the likelihood and consequences of disruptive events in the State or on the land of the Indian Tribe, with States or Indian Tribes with higher per capita expenditures receiving additional weight or consideration as compared to States or Indian Tribes with lower per capita expenditures.
Beginning 1 year after November 15, 2021, the Secretary shall annually update—
all data relating to the factors described in subparagraph (B); and
all other data used in distributing grants to States and Indian Tribes under this subsection.
The Secretary shall ensure that each grant provided to a State or Indian Tribe under the program is allocated, pursuant to the applicable plan of the State or Indian Tribe, to eligible entities for projects within the State or on the land of the Indian Tribe.
In making grants to eligible entities using funds made available to the applicable State or Indian Tribe under the program, the State or Indian Tribe shall give priority to projects that, in the determination of the State or Indian Tribe, will generate the greatest community benefit (whether rural or urban) in reducing the likelihood and consequences of disruptive events.
A State or Indian Tribe receiving a grant under the program shall ensure that, of the amounts made available to eligible entities from funds made available to the State or Indian Tribe under the program, the percentage made available to eligible entities that sell not more than 4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year is not less than the percentage of all customers in the State or Indian Tribe that are served by those eligible entities.
Of the amounts made available to a State or Indian Tribe under the program each fiscal year, the State or Indian Tribe may use not more than 5 percent for—
providing technical assistance under subsection (g)(1)(A); and
administrative expenses associated with the program.
Each State and Indian Tribe shall be required to match 15 percent of the amount of each grant provided to the State or Indian Tribe under the program.
A grant awarded to an eligible entity under the program may be used for activities, technologies, equipment, and hardening measures to reduce the likelihood and consequences of disruptive events, including—
weatherization technologies and equipment;
fire-resistant technologies and fire prevention systems;
monitoring and control technologies;
the undergrounding of electrical equipment;
utility pole management;
the relocation of power lines or the reconductoring of power lines with low-sag, advanced conductors;
vegetation and fuel-load management;
the use or construction of distributed energy resources for enhancing system adaptive capacity during disruptive events, including—
microgrids; and
battery-storage subcomponents;
adaptive protection technologies;
advanced modeling technologies;
hardening of power lines, facilities, substations, of 1 other systems; and
the replacement of old overhead conductors and underground cables.
A grant awarded to an eligible entity under the program may not be used for—
construction of a new—
electric generating facility; or
large-scale battery-storage facility that is not used for enhancing system adaptive capacity during disruptive events; or
cybersecurity.
An eligible entity may not seek cost recovery for the portion of the cost of any system, technology, or equipment that is funded through a grant awarded under the program.
Nothing in this subparagraph prohibits an eligible entity from recovering through traditional or incentive-based ratemaking any portion of an investment in a system, technology, or equipment that is not funded by a grant awarded under the program.
An eligible entity may not submit an application for a grant provided by the Secretary under subsection (c) and a grant provided by a State or Indian Tribe pursuant to subsection (d) during the same application cycle.
Of the amounts made available to carry out the program for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall ensure that—
50 percent is used to award grants to eligible entities under subsection (c); and
50 percent is used to make grants to States and Indian Tribes under subsection (d).
The Secretary, States, and Indian Tribes may—
provide technical assistance and facilitate the distribution and sharing of information to reduce the likelihood and consequences of disruptive events; and
promulgate consumer-facing information and resources to inform the public of best practices* and resources relating to reducing the likelihood and consequences of disruptive events.
Of the amounts made available to the Secretary to carry out the program each fiscal year, the Secretary may use not more than 5 percent for—
providing technical assistance under paragraph (1)(A); and
administrative expenses associated with the program.
Except as provided in paragraph (2), an eligible entity that receives a grant under this section shall be required to match 100 percent of the amount of the grant.
An eligible entity that sells not more than 4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year shall be required to match ⅓ of the amount of the grant.
Not later than 2 years after November 15, 2021, and every 2 years thereafter through 2026, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report describing the program.
The report under paragraph (1) shall include information and data on—
the costs of the projects for which grants are awarded to eligible entities;
the types of activities, technologies, equipment, and hardening measures funded by those grants; and
the extent to which the ability of the power grid to withstand disruptive events has increased.
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out the program $5,000,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 117–58, div. D, title I, § 40101, Nov. 15, 2021, 135 Stat. 923.)
- 2021Enacted · Pub. L. 117-58 · 135 Stat. 923
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 117-58 on 2021-11-15.
all 0 arguments · sorted by: best
no arguments yet — make the first case