I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5335 

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 processes for local permitting of distributed renewable 

energy, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging systems, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 6, 2019 

Mr. TONKO (for himself, Mr. FORTENBERRY, and Mrs. LEE of Nevada) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

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 processes 

for local permitting of distributed renewable energy, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging systems, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Energy Op3 portunity Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) AUTHORITY HAVING JURISDICTION.—The 

7 term ‘‘authority having jurisdiction’’ means any 

8 State, county, local, or Tribal office or official with 

9 jurisdiction— 

10 (A) to issue permits; 

11 (B) to conduct inspections to enforce the 

12 requirements of a relevant code or standard; or 

13 (C) to approve the installation of, or the 

14 equipment and materials used in the installa15 tion of, qualifying distributed energy systems. 

16 (2) BOARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the 

17 Distributed Energy Opportunity Board established 

18 or designated under section 3(a). 

19 (3) DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEM IN20 STALLER.—The term ‘‘distributed energy system in21 staller’’ means an entity or individual— 

22 (A) with knowledge and skills relating to— 

23 (i) the construction and operation of 

24 the equipment used in qualifying distrib25 uted energy systems; and 


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1 (ii) the installation of qualifying dis2 tributed energy systems; and 

3 (B) that has employed safety training to 

4 recognize and avoid the hazards involved in con5 structing, operating, and installing qualifying 

6 distributed energy systems. 

7 (4) QUALIFYING DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYS8 TEM.—The term ‘‘qualifying distributed energy sys9 tem’’ means any equipment or materials installed in, 

10 on, or near a residential, commercial, or industrial 

11 building to support onsite or local energy use, in12 cluding— 

13 (A) to generate electricity from distributed 

14 renewable energy sources, including from— 

15 (i) solar photovoltaic modules or simi16 lar solar energy technologies; 

17 (ii) wind power systems; and 

18 (iii) hydrogen electrolysis and fuel cell 

19 systems; 

20 (B) to store and discharge electricity from 

21 batteries with a capacity of at least 2 kilowatt 

22 hours; 

23 (C) to charge a plug-in electric drive vehi24 cle at a power rate of at least 2 kilowatts; 

25 (D) to refuel a fuel cell electric vehicle; or 


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1 (E) to store and discharge electricity from 

2 fuel cell systems with a capacity of at least 2 

3 kilowatt hours. 

4 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

5 the Secretary of Energy. 

6 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OR DESIGNATION OF THE DIS7 TRIBUTED ENERGY OPPORTUNITY BOARD. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consulta10 tion with trade associations and other entities representing 

11 distributed energy system installers and organizations rep12 resenting State, local, and Tribal governments engaged in 

13 permitting, shall establish or designate a nonprofit cor14 poration, to be known as the ‘‘Distributed Energy Oppor15 tunity Board’’, to carry out a program to streamline the 

16 process for local permitting and inspection of qualifying 

17 distributed energy systems. 

18 (b) COMPOSITION.—The Board shall include rep19 resentatives from— 

20 (1) relevant Federal agencies, or organizations 

21 that represent those agencies; 

22 (2) State, local, and Tribal governments, or or23 ganizations that represent those governments; 

24 (3) distributed energy generation companies; 

25 (4) battery storage companies; 


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1 (5) associations that represent the distributed 

2 energy generation and battery storage industry; 

3 (6) building code agencies and organizations, 

4 including a model energy code-setting organization; 

5 (7) other codes and standards organizations; 

6 and 

7 (8) fuel cell system companies. 

8 (c) PURPOSE AND ACTIVITIES OF THE BOARD.— 

9 (1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Board is to 

10 establish a voluntary program for facilitating— 

11 (A) streamlined permitting processes of 

12 qualifying distributed energy systems; and 

13 (B) certification of distributed energy sys14 tem installers. 

15 (2) ACTIVITIES.—The Board shall— 

16 (A) develop and maintain a streamlined 

17 permitting process, such as a national online 

18 permitting system and technology platform for 

19 expediting, standardizing, and streamlining per20 mitting, that authorities having jurisdiction 

21 may use, at the discretion of those authorities, 

22 to receive, review, and approve permit applica23 tions relating to qualifying distributed energy 

24 systems; 


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1 (B) establish a model expedited permit-to2 build protocol for qualifying distributed energy 

3 systems; 

4 (C) provide technical assistance to authori5 ties having jurisdiction on using and adopting— 

6 (i) the streamlined permitting process 

7 described in subparagraph (A); and 

8 (ii) the model expedited permit-to9 build protocol described in subparagraph 

10 (B); 

11 (D)(i) investigate the development of vol12 untary national certifications for distributed en13 ergy system installers and qualifying distributed 

14 energy systems; and 

15 (ii) if the Board determines that the na16 tional certifications would expedite and stream17 line the permitting and inspection process, de18 velop the voluntary national certifications; 

19 (E) develop and maintain a voluntary na20 tional inspection protocol integrated with the 

21 national online permitting system described in 

22 subparagraphs (A) and (B) and related tools to 

23 expedite, standardize, and streamline the in24 spection of qualifying distributed energy sys25 tems, including— 


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1 (i) by investigating the potential for 

2 using remote inspections; and 

3 (ii) by investigating the potential for 

4 sample-based inspection for distributed en5 ergy system installers with a demonstrated 

6 track record of high-quality work; and 

7 (F) take any other action to expedite, 

8 standardize, streamline, or improve the process 

9 for permitting, inspecting, or interconnecting 

10 qualifying distributed energy systems. 

11 (d) FEE AUTHORITY.—The Board may assess fees 

12 for the provision of services by the Board in amounts de13 termined reasonable and appropriate by the Board, includ14 ing fees from participating distributed energy system in15 stallers relating to the activities of the Board described 

16 in subsection (c)(2). 

17 (e) NONPROFIT STATUS.—The Board shall be consid18 ered to be an organization described in section 501(c)(3) 

19 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and exempt from 

20 taxation under section 501(a) of that Code. 

21 (f) SUPPORT SERVICES.—The Secretary shall— 

22 (1) provide technical assistance to the Board in 

23 carrying out the activities described in subsection 

24 (c)(2); and 


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1 (2) provide such financial assistance to the 

2 Board as the Secretary determines to be appropriate 

3 from any funds appropriated to carry out this Act. 

4 SEC. 4. DISTRIBUTED ENERGY OPPORTUNITY COMMU5 NITIES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall recognize and 

7 certify certain communities as ‘‘Distributed Energy Op8 portunity Communities’’. 

9 (b) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Secretary may certify a 

10 State, local community, or Tribe as a ‘‘Distributed Energy 

11 Opportunity Community’’ if that State, local community, 

12 or Tribe has adopted and implemented the model expe13 dited permit-to-build protocol established by the Board. 

14 (c) PROCESS.—The Secretary may confer a certifi15 cation under subsection (a) through existing programs of 

16 the Department of Energy. 

17 (d) GRANTS.—The Secretary may award competitive 

18 grants, using funds appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

19 out this Act, to encourage communities to adopt the model 

20 expedited permit-to-build protocol and standardized in21 spection processes established by the Board. 


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1 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec3 retary to carry out this Act $20,000,000 for each of fiscal 

4 years 2020 through 2025. 

Æ 


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