IB 

Union Calendar No. 398 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3609 

[Report No. 116–497] 

To provide for a program of wind energy research, development, and 

demonstration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 2, 2019 

Mr. TONKO (for himself, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. KENNEDY, and Mr. BACON) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Science, Space, and Technology 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020 

Additional sponsors: Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. 

GRIJALVA, Mr. PETERS, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mrs. 

AXNE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. KEATING, and Mr. 

MCADAMS

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 2, 2019] 


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A BILL 

To provide for a program of wind energy research, 

development, and demonstration, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Wind Energy Research 

5 and Development Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. WIND ENERGY TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH, DEVELOP7 MENT AND TESTING PROGRAM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy (in this 

9 Act, referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall carry out a pro10 gram to conduct research, development, testing, and evalua11 tion of wind energy technologies. In carrying out such pro12 gram and in accordance with subsection (b), the Secretary 

13 shall award grants and enter into contracts and cooperative 

14 agreements under this section and sections 3, 4, and 5 for 

15 each of the following purposes: 

16 (1) To improve the energy efficiency, reliability, 

17 resilience, security, and capacity of wind energy gen18 eration. 

19 (2) To optimize the design and control of wind 

20 energy systems for the broadest practical range of at21 mospheric conditions. 

22 (3) To reduce the cost and risk of permitting, 

23 construction, operation, and maintenance of wind en24 ergy systems, including technologies to reduce enviVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:43 Sep 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3609.RH H3609

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1 ronmental and community impacts, improve grid in2 tegration, and reduce regulatory barriers. 

3 (4) To improve materials, engineering, and man4 ufacturing processes for turbines, including supersized 

5 turbines. 

6 (5) To optimize wind plant performance and in7 tegration within hybrid energy systems to enhance 

8 cost efficiency and electric grid stability and resil9 ience. 

10 (b) GRANTS, CONTRACTS, AND COOPERATIVE AGREE11 MENTS.— 

12 (1) GRANTS.—In carrying out the program, the 

13 Secretary shall award grants on a competitive, merit14 reviewed basis to eligible entities for projects that the 

15 Secretary determines would best achieve the goals of 

16 the program. 

17 (2) CONTRACTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREE18 MENTS.—In carrying out the program, the Secretary 

19 may enter into contracts and cooperative agreements 

20 with eligible entities and Federal agencies for projects 

21 that the Secretary determines would further the pur22 poses of the program. 

23 (3) APPLICATION.—An entity seeking funding or 

24 a contract or agreement under this subsection shall 

25 submit to the Secretary an application at such time, 


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1 in such manner, and containing such information as 

2 the Secretary may require. 

3 (c) WIND ENERGY RESEARCH SUBJECT AREAS.—The 

4 program established under subsection (a) shall focus on the 

5 research, development, testing, and evaluation of each of the 

6 following subject areas: 

7 (1) Wind power plant performance and oper8 ations including— 

9 (A) wind flows and turbine-to-turbine inter10 actions; 

11 (B) energy conversion potential; 

12 (C) turbine and wind plant control para13 digms; 

14 (D) turbine and wind plant security; 

15 (E) turbine components; and 

16 (F) integrated hybrid plant systems. 

17 (2) New materials and designs related to blades, 

18 rotors, towers and drivetrains including— 

19 (A) higher tip speed rotor designs; 

20 (B) low noise rotor designs; 

21 (C) advanced drivetrain and generator con22 cepts; 

23 (D) modular construction and onsite or 

24 near-site manufacturing and assembly tech25 niques; 


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1 (E) sustainable and recyclable materials 

2 and manufacturing systems; 

3 (F) supersized turbine design and installa4 tion approaches; and 

5 (G) lightweight materials. 

6 (3) Offshore wind-specific projects including— 

7 (A) fixed and floating substructure concepts; 

8 (B) projects to assess and mitigate the im9 pacts of hurricane wind flow, freshwater ice, and 

10 other United States-specific conditions; 

11 (C) innovative operations and maintenance 

12 strategies; 

13 (D) analysis of offshore meteorological, geo14 logical, and oceanographic data collection; 

15 (E) offshore infrastructure monitoring; and 

16 (F) analysis of corrosion and fatigue for the 

17 purpose of extending the design life of offshore 

18 wind turbine substructures. 

19 (4) Recycling and reuse of wind energy compo20 nents. 

21 (5) Wind power forecasting and atmospheric 

22 measurement systems, including for turbines and 

23 plant systems of varying height. 

24 (6) Distributed wind-specific projects, includ25 ing— 


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1 (A) cost-effective turbine designs, compo2 nents, and manufacturing; and 

3 (B) microgrid applications. 

4 (7) Advanced transportation mechanisms for 

5 wind turbine components. 

6 (8) Transformational technologies for harnessing 

7 wind energy, including airborne wind energy con8 cepts. 

9 (9) Methods to extend the operational lifetime of 

10 onshore and offshore wind turbines and systems. 

11 (10) Storage technologies to address the tran12 sience and intermittency of wind energy resources. 

13 (11) Other research areas as determined by the 

14 Secretary. 

15 (d) REPORT.— 

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

17 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

18 shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and 

19 Technology of the House of Representatives and the 

20 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 

21 Senate a report on the potential for, and technical vi22 ability of, airborne wind energy systems to provide a 

23 significant source of energy in the United States. 

24 (2) CONTENTS.—The report under paragraph (1) 

25 shall include a summary of research, development, 


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1 and demonstration needs, including an estimate of 

2 Federal funding requirements, to further examine and 

3 validate the technical and economic viability of air4 borne wind energy concepts over the 10-year period 

5 beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

6 (e) COORDINATION.—To the maximum extent prac7 ticable, the Secretary shall coordinate activities under the 

8 program established under subsection (a) with other rel9 evant programs and capabilities of the Department of En10 ergy and other Federal research programs. 

11 (f) CONFORMING REPEALS.— 

12 (1) Section 931(a)(2) of the Energy Policy Act 

13 of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16231(a)(2)) is amended by strik14 ing subparagraph (B). 

15 (2) Section 4(a) of the Renewable Energy and 

16 Energy Efficiency Technology Competitiveness Act of 

17 1989 (42 U.S.C. 12003(a)) is amended by striking 

18 paragraph (1). 

19 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 (1) The term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means any of the 

21 following entities: 

22 (A) An institution of higher education. 

23 (B) A National Laboratory. 

24 (C) A Federal research agency. 

25 (D) A State research agency. 


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1 (E) A nonprofit research organization. 

2 (F) An industrial entity or a multi-institu3 tional consortium thereof. 

4 (2) The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 

5 has the meaning given such term in section 101 of the 

6 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 

7 (3) The term ‘‘National Laboratory’’ has the 

8 meaning given such term in section 2(3) of the En9 ergy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801(3)). 

10 (4) The term ‘‘supersized turbine’’ means a 12 

11 megawatt or greater wind turbine, typically with a 

12 tower height greater than 140 meters and blades 

13 greater than 75 meters. 

14 SEC. 3. WIND ENERGY TECHNOLOGY VALIDATION AND MAR15 KET TRANSFORMATION PROGRAM. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the program estab17 lished under section 2(a), the Secretary shall conduct a 

18 wind energy technology validation and market trans19 formation program under which the Secretary shall award 

20 grants on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis to eligible en21 tities to support activities that demonstrate and validate 

22 new wind energy technologies with the potential to be cost23 competitive for land-based, offshore, and distributed appli24 cations. 


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1 (b) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seeking a grant 

2 under this section shall submit an application in such form 

3 and manner as the Secretary may prescribe and that con4 tains— 

5 (1) a certification that any demonstration 

6 project carried out using grant funds are— 

7 (A) conducted in collaboration with indus8 try and, as appropriate, with institutions of 

9 higher education and other Federal research pro10 grams; and 

11 (B) of sufficient size and geographic diver12 sity to measure wind energy system performance 

13 under the full productive range of wind condi14 tions in the United States; and 

15 (2) such other information as the Secretary may 

16 require. 

17 (c) FACILITY FOR HYBRID ENERGY SYSTEM RE18 SEARCH AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.—In carrying 

19 out the program established under subsection (a), the Sec20 retary shall establish or support a facility to conduct re21 search and demonstration projects for wind turbines and 

22 plants in hybrid energy systems that incorporate diverse 

23 generation sources, loads, and storage technologies. 

24 (d) OFFSHORE RESEARCH FACILITY.—In carrying out 

25 the program established under subsection (a), the Secretary 


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1 shall establish a facility to conduct research, development, 

2 and demonstration projects for ocean and atmospheric re3 source characterization relevant to offshore wind energy de4 velopment in coordination with the ocean and atmospheric 

5 science communities. The facility shall be an offshore area 

6 used to evaluate, test, and advance atmospheric, oceanic, 

7 biologic, and geologic monitoring technologies that improve 

8 offshore wind energy development, including the generation 

9 of benchmark data sets for testing offshore wind energy tech10 nologies and informing how such technologies can be fi11 nanced, insured, and regulated. 

12 (e) OFFSHORE SUPPORT STRUCTURE TESTING FACIL13 ITY.—In carrying out the program established under sub14 section (a), the Secretary shall create a facility to conduct 

15 research, development, and demonstration projects for large16 scale and full-scale offshore wind energy support structure 

17 components and systems. 

18 SEC. 4. WIND ENERGY INCUBATOR FUNDING. 

19 In carrying out the program established under section 

20 2(a), the Secretary shall conduct research, development, 

21 testing, and evaluation activities, in accordance with sec22 tion 2(b), to support innovative technologies that are not 

23 represented in a significant way in— 


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1 (1) the portfolio of wind energy research activi2 ties carried out by the Department of Energy as of 

3 the date of the enactment of this Act; or 

4 (2) technology roadmaps used by the Department 

5 of Energy as of such date of enactment. 

6 SEC. 5. MITIGATING REGULATORY AND MARKET BARRIERS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the program estab8 lished under section 2(a), the Secretary shall research, de9 velop, test, and evaluate, in accordance with section 2(b), 

10 ways to reduce regulatory and market barriers to the wide11 spread adoption of wind power, including— 

12 (1) grid transmission and integration challenges; 

13 and 

14 (2) permitting issues associated with the poten15 tial impacts of wind power systems on wildlife, radar 

16 systems, local communities, military operations, and 

17 airspace. 

18 (b) WILDLIFE IMPACT MITIGATION.—In carrying out 

19 the activities described in subsection (a), the Secretary shall 

20 support the development, testing, and evaluation of wildlife 

21 impact mitigation technologies or strategies to reduce the 

22 potential impacts of wind energy facilities on— 

23 (1) bald and golden eagles; 

24 (2) bat species; 

25 (3) marine wildlife; and 


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1 (4) other impacted species. 

2 (c) EDUCATION AND OUTREACH.—In carrying out the 

3 activities described in subsection (a), the Secretary shall 

4 support education and outreach activities to disseminate 

5 information and promote public understanding of wind 

6 technologies and the wind energy workforce, including the 

7 Collegiate Wind Competition. 

8 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

9 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec10 retary to carry out this Act— 

11 (1) $103,692,000 for fiscal year 2020; 

12 (2) $108,876,600 for fiscal year 2021; 

13 (3) $114,320,430 for fiscal year 2022; 

14 (4) $120,036,452 for fiscal year 2023; and 

15 (5) $126,038,274 for fiscal year 2024. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 398 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3609 

[Report No. 116–497] 

A BILL 

To provide for a program of wind energy research, 

purposes. development, and demonstration, and for other 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS