II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4727 

To require the establishment of an advanced energy technology research 

initiative and an advanced energy technology and modeling grant program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To require the establishment of an advanced energy technology research initiative and an advanced energy technology and modeling grant program, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advanced Energy 

5 Technologies and Grid Efficiency Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADVANCED ENERGY TECHNOLOGY.—The 

2 term ‘‘advanced energy technology’’ means any en3 ergy generation, modifying transmission loading, or 

4 storage technology with zero or minimal greenhouse 

5 gas emissions that is connected— 

6 (A) to the distribution system; 

7 (B) to the transmission system; or 

8 (C) behind the meter. 

9 (2) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘Advi10 sory Committee’’ means the advisory committee es11 tablished under section 3(a)(2)(A). 

12 (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

13 means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 

14 (4) ELECTRIC UTILITY.—The term ‘‘electric 

15 utility’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

16 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 

17 (5) GRID OPERATOR.—The term ‘‘grid oper18 ator’’ means— 

19 (A) a Transmission Organization, includ20 ing— 

21 (i) an Independent System Operator; 

22 and 

23 (ii) a Regional Transmission Organi24 zation; 

25 (B) a public utility; and 


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1 (C) an electric utility. 

2 (6) INDEPENDENT SYSTEM OPERATOR.—The 

3 term ‘‘Independent System Operator’’ has the mean4 ing given the term in section 3 of the Federal Power 

5 Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 

6 (7) INITIATIVE.—The term ‘‘Initiative’’ means 

7 the Advanced Energy Technology Research Initiative 

8 established under section 3(a)(1). 

9 (8) PUBLIC UTILITY.—The term ‘‘public util10 ity’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

11 201(e) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824(e)). 

12 (9) REGIONAL TRANSMISSION ORGANIZATION.— 

13 The term ‘‘Regional Transmission Organization’’ 

14 has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the 

15 Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 

16 (10) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 

17 means the Secretary of Energy. 

18 (11) TRANSMISSION ORGANIZATION.—The term 

19 ‘‘Transmission Organization’’ has the meaning given 

20 the term in section 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 

21 U.S.C. 796). 


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1 SEC. 3. POWER SYSTEM MODELING REFORM AND UPDATES 

2 TO GRID SERVICES AND GRID OPERATOR 

3 SOFTWARE. 

4 (a) ADVANCED ENERGY TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

5 INITIATIVE.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

7 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission, 

8 in coordination with the Secretary, shall establish 

9 within the Office of Energy Policy and Innovation of 

10 the Commission an initiative, to be known as the 

11 ‘‘Advanced Energy Technology Research Initiative’’, 

12 to research and provide recommendations on how to 

13 improve the modeling, operational, and planning 

14 practices used for the bulk electric system. 

15 (2) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

17 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

18 the Commission, in coordination with the Sec19 retary, shall establish an advisory committee to 

20 research, report on, and provide recommenda21 tions on matters relating to the Initiative, in22 cluding— 

23 (i) whether the existing modeling (in24 cluding power flow modeling) and long25 term and short-term planning practices 

26 used by grid operators for power systems, 


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1 including power markets, adequately incor2 porate expected integration with respect to 

3 advanced energy technologies; 

4 (ii) whether the methods used to de5 termine future transmission and capacity 

6 needs and make reliability-related deter7 minations use the right data to adequately 

8 forecast and model the integration of ad9 vanced energy technology into electric 

10 power systems; 

11 (iii) whether the modeling and plan12 ning practices described in clause (i) and 

13 the methods described in clause (ii) need to 

14 be updated to better account for the inte15 gration of advanced energy technology into 

16 electric power systems; 

17 (iv) any undue barriers to the adop18 tion of advanced energy technology pre19 sented by— 

20 (I) existing modeling, oper21 ational, and planning practices; and 

22 (II) State estimation tools for 

23 planning and reliability; 

24 (v) any need to develop emerging 

25 technologies or software for use in improvVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4727.IS S4727

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1 ing modeling, planning, and operations in 

2 wholesale electricity markets to resolve 

3 computational or technical barriers to the 

4 adoption of advanced energy technology, 

5 including software relating to— 

6 (I) the use of big data, artificial 

7 intelligence, and probabilistic methods 

8 to predict, in near-real-time— 

9 (aa) energy generation from 

10 variable and distributed re11 sources; 

12 (bb) load profiles; and 

13 (cc) consumption and con14 gestion; and 

15 (II) the use of artificial intel16 ligence to improve the responsiveness 

17 of energy system operations; 

18 (vi) whether existing and future grid 

19 reliability service definitions and the mod20 eling techniques, operational processes, and 

21 planning processes used to procure grid re22 liability services— 

23 (I) appropriately account for the 

24 technical and operational characteris25 tics of advanced energy technologies; 


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1 (II) allow for the use of those ad2 vanced energy technologies to provide 

3 grid reliability services when cost-ef4 fective to do so; and 

5 (III) include appropriate cyberse6 curity safeguards; and 

7 (vii) any rulemaking, technical con8 ference, or policy statement that, in the de9 termination of the Advisory Committee, 

10 the Commission should consider. 

11 (B) COMPOSITION.—The Advisory Com12 mittee shall consist of— 

13 (i) not fewer than 1 representative 

14 from each of— 

15 (I) the Commission; 

16 (II) the Department of Energy; 

17 (III) the Electric Reliability Or18 ganization (as defined in section 

19 215(a) of the Federal Power Act (16 

20 U.S.C. 824o(a))); 

21 (IV) an Independent System Op22 erator or a Regional Transmission Or23 ganization; 

24 (V) an entity generating electric 

25 power that is not affiliated with a 


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1 transmission-owning public or non2 public utility; 

3 (VI) an entity generating electric 

4 power that provides power directly to 

5 wholesale or retail customers and is 

6 not affiliated with a transmission-own7 ing public or nonpublic utility; 

8 (VII) an environmental organiza9 tion with expertise on the bulk electric 

10 system; and 

11 (VIII) an institution of higher 

12 education with expertise on the bulk 

13 electric system; 

14 (ii) not fewer than 2 designees of the 

15 National Association of Regulatory Utility 

16 Commissioners; 

17 (iii) not fewer than 4 representatives 

18 from public utilities or electric utilities, re19 gardless of whether the utility is in an area 

20 serviced by an Independent System Oper21 ator or a Regional Transmission Organiza22 tion; and 

23 (iv) not fewer than 2 representatives 

24 from private and nonprofit associations 

25 with expertise in the development, deployVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4727.IS S4727

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1 ment, and use of advanced energy tech2 nologies. 

3 (C) REPORTS.—Not later than 18 months 

4 after the date of enactment of this Act, and 

5 every 2 years thereafter for 10 years, the Advi6 sory Committee shall submit to the Committee 

7 on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate 

8 and the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

9 of the House of Representatives a report on the 

10 Initiative, including the findings or rec11 ommendations of the Advisory Committee with 

12 respect to the matters described in clauses (i) 

13 through (vii) of subparagraph (A). 

14 (b) ADVANCED ENERGY TECHNOLOGY AND GRID

15 SERVICES PROGRAM.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

17 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec18 retary shall establish a competitive financial assist19 ance program, to be known as the ‘‘Advanced En20 ergy Technology and Grid Services Program’’, under 

21 which the Secretary shall enter into Federal finan22 cial assistance agreements with eligible entities de23 scribed in paragraph (2) for the purpose of increas24 ing the market penetration of advanced energy techVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4727.IS S4727

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1 nology through advanced research and development 

2 and pilot demonstrations of— 

3 (A) software upgrades, including upgrades 

4 to the software platforms used to operate 

5 wholesale energy markets; 

6 (B) updated power system planning; 

7 (C) new power system (including power 

8 market) modeling platforms; 

9 (D) cybersecurity and physical security up10 grades; and 

11 (E) resilience upgrades. 

12 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES DESCRIBED.—An eligi13 ble entity referred to in paragraph (1) is— 

14 (A) a grid operator; 

15 (B) a State public utility commission; 

16 (C) an energy cooperative; 

17 (D) a municipality; 

18 (E) an electric utility; 

19 (F) a gas utility; or 

20 (G) a State energy office. 

21 (3) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary may 

22 enter into a financial assistance agreement under 

23 this subsection for— 

24 (A) software upgrades by grid operators; 


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1 (B) new power system (including power 

2 market) modeling platforms; 

3 (C) enhancements to cybersecurity safe4 guards; or 

5 (D) updated power system (including 

6 power market) planning, updated power system 

7 (including power market) modeling, or updated 

8 reliability planning and modeling by grid opera9 tors. 

10 (4) COST SHARING.—In awarding Federal fi11 nancial assistance (including grants, loans, and any 

12 other form of financial assistance) to fund eligible 

13 activities under this subsection, the Secretary shall 

14 require cost sharing in accordance with section 988 

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

16 16352). 

17 (5) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the Ad18 vanced Energy Technology and Grid Services Pro19 gram established under this subsection, the Sec20 retary, to the maximum extent practicable, shall co21 ordinate with existing programs of the Department 

22 of Energy that focus on grid modernization efforts. 

23 SEC. 4. ADVANCED ENERGY AND GRID EFFICIENCY STUD24 IES AND REPORT. 

25 (a) STUDIES.— 


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1 (1) ADVANCED ENERGY STUDY.—The Sec2 retary, in coordination with the Commission, shall 

3 carry out a study of the costs and benefits to con4 sumers of updating power system planning, mod5 eling, and operational practices, including reliability6 related planning, and energy market participation 

7 rules on advanced energy technologies and resources, 

8 including distributed energy technologies and re9 sources, such as— 

10 (A) energy storage technologies; 

11 (B) energy efficiency and transmission effi12 ciency technologies; 

13 (C) distributed solar and wind energy gen14 eration; 

15 (D) fuel cells; 

16 (E) smart thermostats and smart building 

17 technologies; 

18 (F) demand response technologies, includ19 ing natural gas demand response technologies; 

20 (G) advanced metering technologies; 

21 (H) electric vehicles and electric vehicle 

22 charging infrastructure; 

23 (I) any aggregation of the distributed en24 ergy technologies and resources described in 

25 subparagraph (A) or (C); and 


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1 (J) any other advanced energy tech2 nologies, as determined by the Secretary. 

3 (2) GRID EFFICIENCY STUDY.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in co5 ordination with the Commission, shall carry out 

6 a study of the barriers and opportunities for 

7 advanced energy technologies that provide in8 creased, more efficient, or more effective deliv9 ery over the existing transmission network. 

10 (B) REQUIREMENTS.—The study under 

11 subparagraph (A) shall include— 

12 (i) an examination of— 

13 (I) the reliability, resilience, and 

14 economic benefits of technologies such 

15 as power flow control, topology opti16 mization, and dynamic line ratings; 

17 (II) the costs, benefits, and chal18 lenges associated with deployment of 

19 the advanced energy technologies de20 scribed in subparagraph (A); and 

21 (III) the impact of grid efficiency 

22 improvements on wholesale and retail 

23 electricity rates; and 

24 (ii) an analysis of the benefits of per25 formance-based financial and regulatory 


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1 incentives in the deployment of advanced 

2 energy technologies relative to the cost-of3 service of those advanced energy tech4 nologies, as determined by the Secretary. 

5 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

7 to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 

8 the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

9 of the House of Representatives a report describing the 

10 results of the studies under paragraphs (1) and (2) of sub11 section (a). 

12 SEC. 5. INTERCONNECTION PROCESSES AND TRANS13 MISSION UPGRADES. 

14 (a) PRIORITY OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall use the 

16 existing grant funding provided through relevant 

17 funding streams and programs of the Office of Elec18 tricity of the Department of Energy— 

19 (A) to give priority to transmission and 

20 distribution utilities seeking to conduct pilot 

21 programs aimed at integrating advanced energy 

22 technologies into the bulk electric system; and 

23 (B) to focus on escalating demand for ad24 vanced energy technology interconnections. 


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1 (2) REQUIREMENT.—In carrying out paragraph 

2 (1), the Secretary shall develop the design of and 

3 method for carrying out any funding opportunities 

4 identified pursuant to that paragraph. 

5 (b) TRANSMISSION PLANNING AND SITING.— 

6 (1) INDEPENDENT REPORT.—The Commission 

7 shall offer to enter into an agreement with the Na8 tional Academy of Sciences to prepare a report on 

9 whether— 

10 (A) existing regional and interregional 

11 transmission planning and siting processes are 

12 effectively supporting State resource planning 

13 objectives; and 

14 (B) Federal regulators have the tools to ef15 fectively regulate the planning and siting of 

16 interregional transmission lines. 

17 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The report under para18 graph (1) shall examine whether— 

19 (A) there are deficiencies in transmission 

20 planning and siting that affect resource devel21 opment for— 

22 (i) interregional and regional energy 

23 generation; 

24 (ii) interconnection queues; and 

25 (iii) advanced energy technologies; 


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1 (B) the Commission has the programmatic 

2 and regulatory structure necessary to facilitate 

3 continued improvements in transmission plan4 ning, including planning with respect to trans5 mission— 

6 (i) across the boundaries of Inde7 pendent System Operators and Regional 

8 Transmission Organizations; and 

9 (ii) across boundaries that are not as10 sociated with Independent System Opera11 tors or Regional Transmission Organiza12 tions; 

13 (C) State resource planning requirements 

14 are addressed in existing transmission planning 

15 processes; 

16 (D) the Commission lacks tools with re17 spect to the siting of transmission lines that 

18 could help States improve transmission plan19 ning to meet State resource planning objectives; 

20 and 

21 (E) there are barriers to the inclusion and 

22 integration in the grid of any technology— 

23 (i) to reduce transmission losses; 

24 (ii) to improve the efficiency of the 

25 transmission and distribution systems; 


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1 (iii) that is connected to the distribu2 tion system and may— 

3 (I) increase reliability or resil4 ience; and 

5 (II) avoid transmission and dis6 tribution system costs; and 

7 (iv) to better understand the role of 

8 Federal regulators in the siting of tech9 nologies not directly connected to the grid. 

10 (3) DEADLINE.—The report under paragraph 

11 (1) shall be submitted to the Commission, the Sec12 retary, and the relevant committees of Congress not 

13 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

14 Act. 

15 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

16 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to provide 

17 grants through relevant programs of the Office of Elec18 tricity of the Department of Energy, in accordance with 

19 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (a)(1), 

20 $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025. 

Æ 


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