II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1207 

To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a grant program under which 

the Secretary shall make grants to eligible partnerships to provide for 

the transformation of the electric grid by the year 2030, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 6, 2015 

Ms. HIRONO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a grant program under which the Secretary shall make grants to 

eligible partnerships to provide for the transformation 

of the electric grid by the year 2030, 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 ‘‘Next Generation Elec5 tric Systems Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR PROJECTS TO DESIGN AND 

2 DEVELOP TRANSFORMATIVE NEXT GENERA3 TION ELECTRIC SYSTEMS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy (acting 

5 through the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Electricity 

6 Delivery and Energy Reliability) (referred to in this Act 

7 as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall establish a grant program under 

8 which the Secretary shall make grants to eligible partner9 ships to develop and carry out eligible projects related to 

10 achieving the transformation of the future electric grid by 

11 the year 2030 using a comprehensive approach to electric 

12 system design and architecture. 

13 (b) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—To be eligible for a grant 

14 under subsection (a), a project— 

15 (1) shall be designed to improve the perform16 ance and efficiency of the future electric grid, while 

17 ensuring the continued provision of safe, secure, reli18 able, and affordable power; and 

19 (2) may include projects to design, develop, and 

20 test— 

21 (A) feasible, optimal next generation elec22 tricity delivery systems, from generation 

23 through consumption, including end-use appli24 cations; 

25 (B) the role that regulated utilities and 

26 market-driven entities, including third-party 


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1 nonregulated services providers, may play in an 

2 electric system in which distributed energy re3 sources and retail and wholesale level ancillary 

4 services expand; 

5 (C) optimal and innovative, comprehensive 

6 grid infrastructure designs that would ensure 

7 reliable, cost-effective, safe, and secure integra8 tion and management of variable and distrib9 uted energy resources, including projects re10 lated to distributed generation, combined heat 

11 and power, microgrids, energy storage, electric 

12 vehicles, energy efficiency, demand response, 

13 and intelligent loads; 

14 (D) optimal grid design solutions to ensure 

15 grid reliability and resiliency; 

16 (E) the integration and interoperability of 

17 telecommunications, information technology, 

18 operational technologies, or other systems and 

19 technologies with the electric grid to support 

20 the management of the future, next generation, 

21 dynamic and changing electric system; and 

22 (F) solutions to overcoming technological, 

23 regulatory, business model, and market barriers 

24 to achieve the transition and transformation to 

25 the future electric grid. 


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1 (c) DESCRIPTION OF ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIP.—An 

2 eligible partnership referred to in subsection (a) means a 

3 group of 2 or more entities that— 

4 (1) may include any institution of higher edu5 cation, National Laboratory, representative of a 

6 State or local government, representative of an In7 dian tribe, Federal power marketing administration, 

8 industry expert, or nonprofit industry trade associa9 tion; and 

10 (2) shall include at least 1 of any of the fol11 lowing: 

12 (A) An investor-owned electric utility. 

13 (B) A publicly owned utility. 

14 (C) A technology provider. 

15 (D) A rural electric cooperative. 

16 (E) A Regional Transmission Organiza17 tion. 

18 (F) An Independent System Operator. 

19 (d) APPLICATION.—In order to receive a grant under 

20 this section, an eligible partnership shall submit to the 

21 Secretary an application at such time, in such form, and 

22 containing such information as the Secretary may pre23 scribe, including details about the partnership and pro24 posed project. 


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1 (e) SELECTION COMMITTEE.—Not later than 90 days 

2 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

3 establish a selection committee, comprised of technical ex4 perts, to make recommendations, based on the criteria de5 scribed in subsection (f), to the Secretary for the award 

6 of grants under this section to 2 or more eligible partner7 ships. 

8 (f) SELECTION CRITERIA.— 

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

10 grants under subsection (a) based on the following 

11 criteria: 

12 (A) The scope and diversity of the eligible 

13 partnership with respect to representation of 

14 stakeholders and geographic locations. 

15 (B) The demonstrated ability of the eligi16 ble partnership to provide leadership within the 

17 industry in promoting transformative innova18 tion in electricity systems, using a comprehen19 sive or holistic approach, especially with respect 

20 to system design or architecture. 

21 (C) The extent to which a project would 

22 develop and carry out commercially available or 

23 emerging technologies that would be scalable 

24 and replicable. 

25 (D) The extent to which a project would— 


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1 (i) improve electric reliability, resil2 iency, security, and safety; 

3 (ii) provide consumer benefits; 

4 (iii) drive economic growth; or 

5 (iv) achieve other grid modernization 

6 policy or technical goals. 

7 (E) The extent to which a project would 

8 provide an innovative conceptual or technical 

9 approach to the operation of the electric grid 

10 looking to the year 2030 and beyond. 

11 (F) The demonstrated ability of the eligible 

12 partnership to leverage prior Federal or local 

13 investments. 

14 (G) The extent to which a project would 

15 advance a financially viable future model for 

16 electricity market participants, including utili17 ties and third-party entities, that provides all 

18 consumers with fair and equitable options to 

19 meet the electric energy needs of the con20 sumers, while balancing societal, and individual 

21 consumer, interests. 

22 (2) PRIORITY FOR PROJECTS PROVIDING COST

23 SHARE.—In selecting eligible partnerships to make 

24 grants to under subsection (a), the Secretary shall 


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1 give priority to eligible partnerships proposing 

2 projects for which a cost-share is to be provided. 

3 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec5 retary such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act 

6 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2020. 

Æ 


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