I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3389 

To provide for the establishment of Clean Energy Consortia to enhance 

the Nation’s economic, environmental, and energy security by promoting 

commercial application of clean energy technology. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 4, 2011 

Mr. MARKEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment of Clean Energy Consortia 

to enhance the Nation’s economic, environmental, and 

energy security by promoting commercial application of 

clean energy technology. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consortia-Led Energy 

5 Advancement Networks Act’’ or the ‘‘CLEAN Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CLEAN ENERGY CONSORTIA. 

7 (a) PURPOSE.—The Secretary shall carry out a pro8 gram to establish Clean Energy Consortia to enhance the 


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1 Nation’s economic, environmental, and energy security by 

2 promoting commercial application of clean energy tech3 nology and ensuring that the United States maintains a 

4 technological lead in the development and commercial ap5 plication of state-of-the-art energy technologies. To 

6 achieve these purposes the program shall leverage the ex7 pertise and resources of the university and private re8 search communities, industry, venture capital, national 

9 laboratories, and other participants in energy innovation 

10 to support collaborative, cross-disciplinary research and 

11 development in areas not being served by the private sec12 tor in order to develop and accelerate the commercial ap13 plication of innovative clean energy technologies. 

14 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

15 (1) CLEAN ENERGY TECHNOLOGY.—The term 

16 ‘‘clean energy technology’’ means a technology 

17 that— 

18 (A) produces energy from solar, wind, geo19 thermal, biomass, tidal, wave, ocean, and other 

20 renewable energy resources (as such term is de21 fined in section 610 of the Public Utility Regu22 latory Policies Act of 1978); 

23 (B) more efficiently transmits, distributes, 

24 or stores energy; 


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1 (C) enhances energy efficiency for build2 ings and industry, including combined heat and 

3 power; 

4 (D) enables the development of a Smart 

5 Grid (as described in section 1301 of the En6 ergy Independence and Security Act of 2007 

7 (42 U.S.C. 17381)), including integration of re8 newable energy resources and distributed gen9 eration, demand response, demand side man10 agement, and systems analysis; 

11 (E) produces an advanced or sustainable 

12 material with energy or energy efficiency appli13 cations; 

14 (F) improves energy efficiency for trans15 portation, including electric vehicles; or 

16 (G) enhances water security through im17 proved water management, conservation, dis18 tribution, and end use applications. 

19 (2) CLUSTER.—The term ‘‘cluster’’ means a 

20 network of entities directly involved in the research, 

21 development, finance, and commercial application of 

22 clean energy technologies whose geographic prox23 imity facilitates utilization and sharing of skilled 

24 human resources, infrastructure, research facilities, 


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1 educational and training institutions, venture cap2 ital, and input suppliers. 

3 (3) CONSORTIUM.—The term ‘‘Consortium’’ 

4 means a Clean Energy Consortium established in ac5 cordance with this section. 

6 (4) PROJECT.—The term ‘‘project’’ means an 

7 activity with respect to which a Consortium provides 

8 support under subsection (e). 

9 (5) QUALIFYING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘quali10 fying entity’’ means each of the following: 

11 (A) A research university. 

12 (B) A State or Federal institution with a 

13 focus on the advancement of clean energy tech14 nologies. 

15 (C) A nongovernmental organization with 

16 research or technology transfer expertise in 

17 clean energy technology development. 

18 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

19 the Secretary of Energy. 

20 (7) TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT FOCUS.—The 

21 term ‘‘technology development focus’’ means the 

22 unique clean energy technology or technologies in 

23 which a Consortium specializes. 

24 (8) TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH.—The term 

25 ‘‘translational research’’ means coordination of basic 


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1 or applied research with technical applications to en2 able promising discoveries or inventions to achieve 

3 commercial application of energy technology. 

4 (c) ROLE OF THE SECRETARY.—The Secretary 

5 shall— 

6 (1) have ultimate responsibility for, and over7 sight of, all aspects of the program under this sec8 tion; 

9 (2) select recipients of grants for the establish10 ment and operation of Consortia through a competi11 tive selection process; 

12 (3) coordinate the innovation activities of Con13 sortia with those occurring through other Depart14 ment of Energy entities, including the National Lab15 oratories, the Advanced Research Projects Agency— 

16 Energy, Energy Innovation Hubs, and Energy Fron17 tier Research Collaborations, and within industry, 

18 including by annually— 

19 (A) issuing guidance regarding national 

20 energy research and development priorities and 

21 strategic objectives; and 

22 (B) convening a conference of staff of the 

23 Department of Energy and representatives from 

24 such other entities to share research results, 


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1 program plans, and opportunities for collabora2 tion. 

3 (d) ENTITIES ELIGIBLE FOR SUPPORT.—A consor4 tium shall be eligible to receive support under this section 

5 if— 

6 (1) it is composed of— 

7 (A) 2 research universities with a com8 bined annual research budget of $500,000,000; 

9 and 

10 (B) 1 or more additional qualifying enti11 ties; 

12 (2) its members have established a binding 

13 agreement that documents— 

14 (A) the structure of the partnership agree15 ment; 

16 (B) a governance and management struc17 ture to enable cost-effective implementation of 

18 the program; 

19 (C) a conflicts of interest policy consistent 

20 with subsection (e)(1)(B); 

21 (D) an accounting structure that meets the 

22 requirements of the Department of Energy and 

23 can be audited under subsection (f)(4); and 

24 (E) that it has an External Advisory Com25 mittee consistent with subsection (e)(3); 


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1 (3) it receives funding from States, consortium 

2 participants, or other non-Federal sources, to be 

3 used to support project awards pursuant to sub4 section (e); 

5 (4) it is part of an existing cluster or dem6 onstrates high potential to develop a new cluster; 

7 and 

8 (5) it operates as a nonprofit organization. 

9 (e) CLEAN ENERGY CONSORTIA.— 

10 (1) ROLE.—A Consortium shall support 

11 translational research activities leading to commer12 cial application of clean energy technologies, in ac13 cordance with the purposes of this section, through 

14 issuance of awards to projects managed by quali15 fying entities and other entities meeting the Consor16 tium’s project criteria. Each Consortium shall— 

17 (A) develop and make available to the pub18 lic through the Department of Energy’s Web 

19 site proposed plans, programs, project selection 

20 criteria, and terms for individual project awards 

21 under this subsection; 

22 (B) establish conflict of interest proce23 dures, consistent with those of the Department 

24 of Energy, to ensure that employees and des25 ignees for Consortium activities who are in deciVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:39 Nov 10, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3389.IH H3389

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1 sionmaking capacities disclose all material con2 flicts of interest, including financial, organiza3 tional, and personal conflicts of interest; 

4 (C) establish policies— 

5 (i) to prevent resources provided to 

6 the Consortium from being used to dis7 place private sector investment otherwise 

8 likely to occur, including investment from 

9 private sector entities that are members of 

10 the Consortium; 

11 (ii) to facilitate the participation of 

12 private entities that invest in clean energy 

13 technologies to perform due diligence on 

14 award proposals, to participate in the 

15 award review process, and to provide guid16 ance to projects supported by the Consor17 tium; and 

18 (iii) to facilitate the participation of 

19 parties with a demonstrated history of 

20 commercial application of clean energy 

21 technologies in the development of Consor22 tium projects; 

23 (D) oversee project solicitations, review 

24 proposed projects, and select projects for 

25 awards; and 


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1 (E) monitor project implementation. 

2 (2) DISTRIBUTION OF AWARDS.—Consortia, 

3 with prior approval of the Secretary, shall distribute 

4 awards under this subsection to support clean en5 ergy technology projects conducting translational re6 search, provided that at least 50 percent of such 

7 support shall be provided to projects related to a 

8 Consortium’s clean energy technology development 

9 focus. Upon approval by the Secretary, all remaining 

10 funds shall be available to support any clean energy 

11 technology projects conducting translational re12 search. 

13 (3) EXTERNAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each Consortium shall 

15 establish an External Advisory Committee, the 

16 members of which shall have extensive and rel17 evant scientific, technical, industry, financial, or 

18 research management expertise. The External 

19 Advisory Committee shall review the Consor20 tium’s proposed plans, programs, project selec21 tion criteria, and projects and shall ensure that 

22 projects selected for awards meet the conflict of 

23 interest policies of the Consortium. External 

24 Advisory Committee members other than those 

25 representing Consortium members shall serve 


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1 for no more than 3 years. All External Advisory 

2 Committee members shall comply with the Con3 sortium’s conflict of interest policies and proce4 dures. 

5 (B) MEMBERS.—The External Advisory 

6 Committee shall consist of— 

7 (i) 5 members selected by the Consor8 tium’s research universities; 

9 (ii) 2 members selected by the Consor10 tium’s other qualifying entities; 

11 (iii) 2 members selected at large by 

12 other External Advisory Committee mem13 bers to represent the entrepreneur and 

14 venture capital communities; and 

15 (iv) 1 member appointed by the Sec16 retary. 

17 (4) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—The Secretary 

18 may disqualify an application or revoke funds dis19 tributed to a Consortium if the Secretary discovers 

20 a failure to comply with conflict of interest proce21 dures established under paragraph (1)(B). 

22 (f) GRANTS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 

24 grants under this section in accordance with section 

25 989 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 


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1 16353). The Secretary shall award grants, on a 

2 competitive basis, to 6 regional Consortia, each for 

3 an initial period not to exceed 5 years. The Sec4 retary may extend the term of such award by up to 

5 5 additional years, and a Consortium may compete 

6 to receive an increase in funding that it shall receive 

7 during any such extension. A Consortium shall be el8 igible to compete for a new award after the expira9 tion of the term of any award, including any exten10 sion of such term, under this subsection. 

11 (2) AMOUNT.—Grants under this subsection 

12 shall be in an aggregate amount not greater than 

13 $120,000,000 per fiscal year. 

14 (3) USE.—Grants distributed under this section 

15 shall be used exclusively to support project awards 

16 pursuant to subsection (e)(1) and (2), provided that 

17 a Consortium may use not more than 10 percent of 

18 the amount of its grant for its administrative ex19 penses related to making such awards. Grants made 

20 under this section shall not be used for construction 

21 of new buildings or facilities, and construction of 

22 new buildings or facilities shall not be considered as 

23 part of the non-Federal share of a cost sharing 

24 agreement under this section. 


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1 (4) AUDIT.—Consortia shall conduct, in accord2 ance with such requirements as the Secretary may 

3 prescribe, annual audits to determine the extent to 

4 which grants distributed to Consortia under this 

5 subsection, and awards under subsection (e), have 

6 been utilized in a manner consistent with this sec7 tion. Auditors shall transmit a report of the results 

8 of each audit to the Secretary and to the Govern9 ment Accountability Office. The Secretary shall in10 clude such reports in an annual report to Congress, 

11 along with a plan to remedy any deficiencies cited in 

12 the reports. The Government Accountability Office 

13 may review such audits as appropriate and shall 

14 have full access to the books, records, and personnel 

15 of Consortia to ensure that grants distributed to 

16 Consortia under this subsection, and awards made 

17 under subsection (e), have been utilized in a manner 

18 consistent with this section. 

19 (5) REVOCATION OF AWARDS.—The Secretary 

20 shall have authority to review awards made under 

21 this subsection and to revoke such awards if the Sec22 retary determines that a Consortium has used the 

23 award in a manner not consistent with the require24 ments of this section. 

Æ 


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