I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2986 

To amend the United States Energy Storage Competitiveness Act of 2007 

to establish a research, development, and demonstration program for 

grid-scale energy storage systems, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 23, 2019 

Mr. FOSTER (for himself, Mr. CASTEN of Illinois, Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER, 

and Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To amend the United States Energy Storage Competitiveness 

Act of 2007 to establish a research, development, and 

demonstration program for grid-scale energy storage 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Better Energy Storage 

5 Technology Act’’ or the ‘‘BEST Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRID-SCALE ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM RESEARCH, 

2 DEVELOPMENT, AND DEMONSTRATION PRO3 GRAM. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The United States Energy Stor5 age Competitiveness Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17231) is 

6 amended— 

7 (1) by redesignating subsections (l) through (p) 

8 as subsections (m) through (q), respectively; and 

9 (2) by inserting after subsection (k) the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(l) GRID-SCALE ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM RE12 SEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND DEMONSTRATION PRO13 GRAM.— 

14 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

15 ‘‘(A) ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM.—The 

16 term ‘energy storage system’ means a system, 

17 equipment, facility, or technology that— 

18 ‘‘(i) is capable of absorbing energy, 

19 storing that energy for a period of time, 

20 and dispatching the stored energy; and 

21 ‘‘(ii)(I) uses a mechanical, electrical, 

22 chemical, electrochemical, or thermal proc23 ess to store energy that— 

24 ‘‘(aa) was generated at an earlier 

25 time for use at a later time; or 


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1 ‘‘(bb) was generated from a me2 chanical process, and would otherwise 

3 be wasted, for delivery at a later time; 

4 or 

5 ‘‘(II) stores thermal energy for direct 

6 use for heating or cooling at a later time 

7 in a manner that avoids the need to use 

8 electricity at that later time, in the same 

9 manner as the storage and use offered by 

10 a grid-enabled water heater. 

11 ‘‘(B) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ 

12 means the research, development, and dem13 onstration program established under para14 graph (2)(A). 

15 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

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

17 days after the date of enactment of the BEST 

18 Act, the Secretary shall establish within the Of19 fice of Electricity of the Department of Energy 

20 a research, development, and demonstration 

21 program of grid-scale energy storage systems, 

22 in accordance with this subsection. 

23 ‘‘(B) GOALS, PRIORITIES, COST TAR24 GETS.—The Secretary shall develop goals, pri25 orities, and cost targets for the program. 


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1 ‘‘(3) STRATEGIC PLAN.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

3 days after the date of enactment of the BEST 

4 Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Com5 mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 

6 Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, 

7 and Technology of the House of Representa8 tives a 10-year strategic plan for the program. 

9 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The strategic plan sub10 mitted under subparagraph (A) shall— 

11 ‘‘(i) identify Department of Energy 

12 programs that— 

13 ‘‘(I) support the research and de14 velopment activities described in para15 graph (4) and the demonstration 

16 projects under paragraph (6); and 

17 ‘‘(II)(aa) do not support the ac18 tivities or projects described in sub19 clause (I); but 

20 ‘‘(bb) are important to the devel21 opment of grid-scale energy storage 

22 systems and the mission of the Office 

23 of Electricity of the Department of 

24 Energy, as determined by the Sec25 retary; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) include expected timelines for— 

2 ‘‘(I) the accomplishment of rel3 evant objectives under current pro4 grams of the Department of Energy 

5 relating to grid-scale energy storage 

6 systems; and 

7 ‘‘(II) the commencement of any 

8 new initiatives within the Department 

9 of Energy relating to grid-scale energy 

10 storage systems to accomplish those 

11 objectives. 

12 ‘‘(C) UPDATES TO PLAN.—Not less fre13 quently than once every 2 years, the Secretary 

14 shall submit to the Committee on Energy and 

15 Natural Resources of the Senate and the Com16 mittee on Science, Space, and Technology of 

17 the House of Representatives an updated 10- 

18 year strategic plan, which shall identify, and 

19 provide a justification for, any major deviation 

20 from a previous strategic plan submitted under 

21 this paragraph. 

22 ‘‘(4) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.—In car23 rying out the program, the Secretary shall focus re24 search and development activities on developing cost25 effective energy storage systems that— 


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1 ‘‘(A)(i) to balance day-scale needs, are ca2 pable of highly flexible power output for not 

3 less than 6 hours; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) have a lifetime of— 

5 ‘‘(I) not less than 8,000 cycles of dis6 charge at full output; and 

7 ‘‘(II) 20 years of operation; 

8 ‘‘(B)(i) can provide power to the electric 

9 grid for durations of approximately 10 to 100 

10 hours; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) have a lifetime of— 

12 ‘‘(I) not less than 1,500 cycles of dis13 charge at full output; and 

14 ‘‘(II) 20 years of operation; and 

15 ‘‘(C) can store energy over several months 

16 and address seasonal scale variations in supply 

17 and demand. 

18 ‘‘(5) COST TARGETS.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Cost targets developed 

20 by the Secretary under paragraph (2)(B) 

21 shall— 

22 ‘‘(i) be for energy storage costs across 

23 all types of energy storage technology; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) include technology costs, installa2 tion costs, balance of services costs, and 

3 soft costs. 

4 ‘‘(B) TARGET UPDATES; SUBTARGETS.— 

5 Not less frequently than once every 5 years 

6 during the 10-year period beginning on the date 

7 of enactment of the BEST Act, the Secretary 

8 shall— 

9 ‘‘(i) revise the cost targets developed 

10 under paragraph (2)(B) to be more strin11 gent, based on— 

12 ‘‘(I) a technology-neutral ap13 proach that considers all types of en14 ergy storage deployment scenarios, in15 cluding individual technologies, tech16 nology combination use profiles, and 

17 integrated control system applications; 

18 ‘‘(II) input from a variety of 

19 stakeholders, including the stake20 holders described in subsection (i)(3); 

21 ‘‘(III) the inclusion and use of 

22 existing infrastructure; and 

23 ‘‘(IV) the ability to optimize the 

24 integration of intermittent renewable 


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1 energy generation technology and dis2 tributed energy resources; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) establish cost subtargets for 

4 technologies and applications relating to 

5 the energy storage systems described in 

6 paragraph (4), taking into consideration— 

7 ‘‘(I) electricity market prices; and 

8 ‘‘(II) the goal of being cost-com9 petitive in specific markets for electric 

10 grid products and services. 

11 ‘‘(6) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than Sep13 tember 30, 2023, under the program, the Sec14 retary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, 

15 enter into agreements to carry out not more 

16 than 5 grid-scale energy storage system dem17 onstration projects. 

18 ‘‘(B) OBJECTIVES.—Each demonstration 

19 project carried out under subparagraph (A) 

20 shall be designed to further the development of 

21 the energy storage systems described in para22 graph (4). 

23 ‘‘(C) NO OWNERSHIP INTEREST.—The 

24 Federal Government shall not hold any equity 

25 or other ownership interest in any grid-scale enVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2986.IH H2986

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1 ergy storage system that is part of a dem2 onstration project under this paragraph. 

3 ‘‘(7) TESTING AND VALIDATION.—The Sec4 retary shall accelerate the standardized testing and 

5 validation of grid-scale energy storage systems under 

6 the program through collaboration with 1 or more 

7 National Laboratories (as defined in section 2 of the 

8 Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801)), in9 cluding by developing testing and evaluation meth10 odologies for— 

11 ‘‘(A) standardized grid performance testing 

12 for energy storage systems, materials, and tech13 nologies during each stage of development, be14 ginning with the research stage and ending with 

15 the deployment stage, including performance 

16 testing with charge and discharge protocols to 

17 evaluate power capability, energy output, and 

18 degradation during cycling and calendar aging 

19 on earliest stage commercially viable prototypes 

20 (commonly less than 100 kilowatts); and 

21 ‘‘(B) accelerated life testing protocols to 

22 predict estimated lifetime metrics with accu23 racy. 

24 ‘‘(8) COORDINATION.—To accelerate the devel25 opment of grid-scale energy storage systems under 


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1 the program, and pursuant to subsection (n), the 

2 Secretary shall coordinate with— 

3 ‘‘(A) offices within the Department of En4 ergy conducting energy storage research, such 

5 as the Advanced Research Projects Agency–En6 ergy, the Office of Science, and the Office of 

7 Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; 

8 ‘‘(B) Federal agencies that are carrying 

9 out initiatives to increase energy security or re10 liability, such as the Department of Defense, 

11 the National Science Foundation, the Federal 

12 Energy Regulatory Commission, and the De13 partment of Homeland Security; 

14 ‘‘(C) program offices that aim to increase 

15 domestic manufacturing and production, such 

16 as the Office of Advanced Manufacturing in the 

17 Department of Energy and the National Insti18 tute of Standards and Technology in the De19 partment of Commerce; and 

20 ‘‘(D) members of private industry to ad21 vance the development of commercially viable 

22 grid-scale energy storage systems.’’. 

23 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—The 

24 United States Energy Storage Competitiveness Act of 


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1 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17231) is amended, in subsection (q) (as 

2 redesignated by subsection (a)(1))— 

3 (1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

4 end; 

5 (2) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at 

6 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

7 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(7) the research, development, and demonstra9 tion program of grid-scale energy storage systems 

10 under subsection (l) $60,000,000 for each of fiscal 

11 years 2020 through 2024.’’. 

Æ 


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