I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7237 

To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish an Office of Advanced Clean 

Energy Technologies and manage a network of Regional Energy Innovation and Development Institutes to advance regional decarbonization 

strategies. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 18, 2020 

Ms. BONAMICI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 

Science, Space, and Technology, 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 direct the Secretary of Energy to establish an Office 

of Advanced Clean Energy Technologies and manage a 

network of Regional Energy Innovation and Development 

Institutes to advance regional decarbonization strategies. 

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 ‘‘Regional Clean Energy 

5 Innovation Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF ADVANCED CLEAN TECHNOLOGIES. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Energy 

3 shall establish an Office of Advanced Clean Energy Tech4 nologies within the Department to manage a network of 

5 Regional Energy Innovation and Development Institutes 

6 (in this Act, referred to as ‘‘REIDIs’’) that accelerate 

7 clean energy innovation in the post-research stage to help 

8 projects overcome obstacles to deployment and commer9 cialization, connect Federally funded research and devel10 opment with State and regional initiatives, and advance 

11 decarbonization strategies. 

12 (b) OFFICE OF ADVANCED CLEAN ENERGY TECH13 NOLOGIES.—The purpose of the Office of Advanced Clean 

14 Energy Technologies shall be to— 

15 (1) support the creation and development of 

16 REIDIs and covered entities by providing incentives 

17 to States, regions, academic institutions, Tribes, 

18 local governments, and businesses to organize and 

19 address a specific targeted clean energy technology 

20 and market intersection; 

21 (2) leverage existing state, local, regional, Trib22 al, and national initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas 

23 emissions to help facilitate an effective transition to 

24 more clean energy technologies, and improve resil25 ience and environmental outcomes, especially for 


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1 rural and low-income households, communities of 

2 color, and Tribal communities; 

3 (3) analyze and establish region-specific path4 ways to decarbonization and net-zero emissions and 

5 use the REIDIs to advance these goals; 

6 (4) facilitate development of clean energy tech7 nologies from laboratory research stage to market by 

8 promoting collaboration and resource sharing among 

9 REIDIs; 

10 (5) provide technical assistance to the REIDIs 

11 and verify quality of projects of REIDIs; 

12 (6) assist States, regions, Tribes, local govern13 ments, academic institutions, and businesses in ap14 plying for designation as a REIDI; 

15 (7) share best practices across the REIDIs net16 work; 

17 (8) support REIDIs in the navigation of regu18 latory processes; 

19 (9) disseminate Federal funding to REIDIs and 

20 provide support for operating capabilities; 

21 (10) support REIDIs that address environ22 mental justice and energy justices issues in geo23 graphically diverse regions, including efforts to im24 prove public health, resilience, and environmental 

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1 munities of color, Tribal communities, and commu2 nities that are disproportionately vulnerable to the 

3 effects of climate change and greenhouse gas emis4 sions; and 

5 (11) work with other Federal offices and pro6 grams to complement clean energy innovation 

7 projects and avoid duplication of efforts. 

8 (c) DIRECTOR.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 

10 Advanced Clean Energy Technologies shall be ap11 pointed by the President, with the advice and con12 sent of the Senate and shall report to the Secretary. 

13 (2) BACKGROUND OF DIRECTOR.—The Director 

14 shall have professional background and experience 

15 on clean energy challenges specific to regional en16 ergy resources, market needs, and innovation capa17 bilities and have such qualifications to advise the 

18 Secretary on, and manage research programs ad19 dressing barriers to the development of clean energy 

20 technologies. 

21 (3) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The responsibilities of 

22 the Director shall include— 

23 (A) assessing existing regional capabilities 

24 and needs for clean energy technologies; 


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1 (B) establishing goals for the REIDIs and 

2 publicizing the goals to relevant local and State 

3 governments, Tribes, academic institutions, and 

4 the public and private sectors; 

5 (C) identifying cost-sharing arrangements 

6 for REIDIs with State, local, and regional part7 ners; 

8 (D) reviewing and approving the designa9 tion of covered entities as REIDIs and initia10 tives within the Office, considering an appro11 priate balance of geographical interests, existing 

12 innovation ecosystems, national laboratories, 

13 and resources, regional variations in and resil14 ience of energy supply and demand, and capa15 bilities to support job creation; 

16 (E) developing funding criteria for REIDIs 

17 and assessing the success of the REIDIs 

18 through the establishment of technical mile19 stones, including terminating the designation of 

20 REIDIs that are not achieving the goals of the 

21 Office; 

22 (F) establishing and maintaining a staff 

23 with sufficient qualifications and expertise to 

24 enable the Office to carry out its responsibilities 


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1 in conjunction with other operations of the De2 partment; and 

3 (G) coordinating with other programs and 

4 laboratories within the Department and other 

5 Federal research agencies to avoid duplication 

6 and working together to address dispersed gaps 

7 in energy innovation and deployment. 

8 (d) REIDIS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall establish 

10 a program to designate, fund, and support REIDIs 

11 in accordance with this subsection. 

12 (2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of a REIDIs shall 

13 be to— 

14 (A) increase and leverage connectivity of 

15 existing clean energy research capabilities and 

16 needs at the regional level to advance mid-stage 

17 and late-stage innovation; 

18 (B) support clean energy technology devel19 opment, with a focus on regional resources to 

20 advance early adoption market connections; 

21 (C) connect regional market needs and 

22 innovators to address regional variation in en23 ergy distribution, use, risks, and capabilities; 

24 (D) support access to technical resources, 

25 modeling, and test beds through the Office of 


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1 Advanced Clean Energy Technologies and De2 partment National Laboratories; 

3 (E) create a regional innovation ecosystem 

4 through mentorship, business development, edu5 cation, and research and development invest6 ments; 

7 (F) identify regulatory structures that cre8 ate obstacles for market deployment of clean 

9 energy technologies; and 

10 (G) design and implement initiatives to 

11 stimulate market demand for clean energy tech12 nologies that will substantially contribute to re13 gional net-zero pathways. 

14 (3) FUNDING.—The Director shall require, as a 

15 condition of designation of a REIDI and of funding 

16 under this subsection, that each REIDI shall be 

17 funded such that not less than 50 percent of Fund18 ing shall come from sources other than the Federal 

19 government. 

20 (4) APPLICATIONS.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—To apply for designa22 tion as a REIDI, a local, State, or Tribal gov23 ernment in coordination with regional public 

24 and private partners shall submit an application 

25 to the Secretary containing a description and 


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1 plan for the activities to be carried out by the 

2 REIDI with Federal funds and opportunities 

3 for regional cost-sharing. Such application shall 

4 include a description— 

5 (i) the local or regional partnership 

6 that will be supported by the REIDI, in7 cluding the lead partners; 

8 (ii) the clean energy sectors that will 

9 be served by the REIDI, and a description 

10 of how such sectors were identified in rela11 tion to regional market needs, and how the 

12 activities of the REIDI will align with 

13 State, local, regional, and Tribal policies 

14 and substantially contribute to regional 

15 net-zero pathways; 

16 (iii) the potential of the planned 

17 REIDI activities to achieve significant re18 ductions in carbon emissions at a declining 

19 unit cost over time and increase market 

20 competitiveness of the clean energy tech21 nologies; 

22 (iv) how the partners in the REIDI 

23 plan to work to support clean energy 

24 projects at the post-research stage to help 

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1 onstration, and commercial readiness to 

2 address market need in deployment of 

3 clean energy technologies; 

4 (v) demonstrated relationships be5 tween research, job creation, and tech6 nology deployment in the clean energy in7 dustry; 

8 (vi) coordination with nongovern9 mental entities for demonstration of tech10 nologies and research applications; 

11 (vii) mechanisms for commercial dem12 onstration and application of successful en13 ergy technology development projects, in14 cluding existing partnerships with commer15 cial entities; 

16 (viii) the services that will be sup17 ported through Federal funds and funding 

18 sources for equal regional cost sharing; 

19 (ix) levels of performance with respect 

20 to the purposes described in section 2(a); 

21 and 

22 (x) such other subjects as the Sec23 retary may require. 

24 (B) REVIEW.—The Secretary shall review 

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1 tion with the Director of the Office of Advanced 

2 Clean Energy Technologies. 

3 (e) REPORTS AND EVALUATION.— 

4 (1) ANNUAL REPORT.—As part of the annual 

5 budget request submitted for each fiscal year, the 

6 Director shall provide to the relevant authorizing 

7 and appropriations committees of Congress a report 

8 describing projects supported by each REIDI during 

9 the previous fiscal year. 

10 (2) STRATEGIC PLAN.—Not later than one year 

11 after enactment, the Director shall provide to the 

12 relevant authorizing and appropriations committees 

13 of Congress a roadmap describing the strategic plan 

14 that the Office will use to guide the choices of 

15 REIDI investments for the following five fiscal years 

16 including how they will contribute to regional net17 zero pathways. A revised plan shall be submitted at 

18 least once every 5 years thereafter. Commercial and 

19 financial information obtained and considered privi20 leged or confidential and not subject to disclosure, 

21 including: 

22 (A) Plans for commercialization of tech23 nologies developed by the REIDI, business 

24 plans, technology-to-market plans, market stud25 ies, and cost and performance models. 


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1 (B) Investments provided to a REIDI from 

2 third parties. 

3 (C) Additional financial support that the 

4 partner plans to or has invested into the tech5 nology developed under the REIDI or is seeking 

6 from third parties. 

7 (D) Revenue from the licensing or sale of 

8 new products or services resulting from re9 search conducted by the REIDI. 

10 (f) AUTHORIZATIONS.—There are authorized to be 

11 appropriated to carry out this section $150,000,000 annu12 ally for fiscal years 2021 through 2025, which shall in13 clude— 

14 (1) $125,000,000 for grants to REIDIs per 

15 year; and 

16 (2) $25,000,000 for administration of the Of17 fice under this section. 

18 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

19 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

20 means the Department of Energy. 

21 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

22 the Director of the Office of Advanced Clean Energy 

23 Technologies. 


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1 (3) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of2 fice of Advanced Clean Energy Technologies estab3 lished under subsection (b). 

4 (4) REIDIS.—The term ‘‘Regional Energy In5 novation and Development Institute’’ or ‘‘REIDI’’ 

6 means a partnership between local, State, regional, 

7 Tribal governments, academic institutions, busi8 nesses, DOE national laboratories, and other clean 

9 energy entities that the Director designates under 

10 section 2(d) to advance the development of early11 stage innovations and support after proof concept to 

12 help clean energy innovations reach viability for 

13 commercial demonstration and deployment. 

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

15 the Secretary of Energy. 

Æ 


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