I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5594 

To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a photovoltaic demonstration 

program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 13, 2006 

Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. WAMP, Mr. 

EHLERS, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. 

DOGGETT, Mr. SIMMONS, Mr. MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. BARTLETT of 

Maryland, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. BASS, Mr. HAYWORTH, and Mr. 

BUTTERFIELD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a photovoltaic 

demonstration 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 ‘‘Solar Utilization Now 

5 Demonstration Act of 2006’’ or the ‘‘SUN Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 
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1 (1) Renewable energy is a growth industry 

2 around the world. However, the United States has 

3 not been investing as heavily as other countries, and 

4 is losing market share. 

5 (2) Since 1996, the United States has lost sig6 nificant market share in the solar industry, dropping 

7 from 44 percent of the world market to 13 percent 

8 in 2003. 

9 (3) In 2003, Japan spent more than 

10 $200,000,000 on solar research, development, dem11 onstration, and commercial application and other in12 centives, and Germany provided more than 

13 $750,000,000 in low cost financing for solar photo14 voltaic projects. This compares to United States 

15 Government spending of $139,000,000 in 2003 for 

16 research, development, demonstration, and commer17 cial application and other incentives. 

18 (4) Germany and Japan each had domestic 

19 photovoltaic industries that employed more than 

20 10,000 people in 2003, while in the same year the 

21 United States photovoltaics industry employed only 

22 2,000 people. 

23 (5) The United States is becoming increasingly 

24 dependent on imported energy. 
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1 (6) The high cost of fossil fuels is hurting the 

2 United States economy. 

3 (7) Small reductions in peak demand can result 

4 in very large reductions in price, according to energy 

5 market experts. 

6 (8) Although the United States has only 2 per7 cent of the world’s oil reserves and 3 percent of the 

8 world’s natural gas reserves, our Nation’s renewable 

9 energy resources are vast and largely untapped. 

10 (9) Renewable energy can reduce the demand 

11 for imported energy, reducing costs and decreasing 

12 the variability of energy prices. 

13 (10) By using domestic renewable energy re14 sources, the United States can reduce the amount of 

15 money sent into unstable regions of the world and 

16 keep it in the United States. 

17 (11) By supporting renewable energy research 

18 and development, and funding demonstration and 

19 commercial application programs for renewable en20 ergy, the United States can create an export indus21 try and improve the balance of trade. 

22 (12) Renewable energy can significantly reduce 

23 the environmental impacts of energy production. 
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1 SEC. 3. PHOTOVOLTAIC DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM. 

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

3 Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall establish a pro4 gram of grants to States to demonstrate advanced photo5 voltaic technology. 

6 (b) REQUIREMENTS.— 

7 (1) ABILITY TO MEET REQUIREMENTS.—To re8 ceive funding under the program under this section, 

9 a State must submit a proposal that demonstrates, 

10 to the satisfaction of the Secretary, that the State 

11 will meet the requirements of subsection (f). 

12 (2) COMPLIANCE WITH REQUIREMENTS.—If a 

13 State has received funding under this section for the 

14 preceding year, the State must demonstrate, to the 

15 satisfaction of the Secretary, that it complied with 

16 the requirements of subsection (f) in carrying out 

17 the program during that preceding year, and that it 

18 will do so in the future, before it can receive further 

19 funding under this section. 

20 (3) FUNDING ALLOCATION.—Except as pro21 vided in subsection (c), each State submitting a 

22 qualifying proposal shall receive funding under the 

23 program based on the proportion of United States 

24 population in the State according to the 2000 cen25 sus. In each fiscal year, the portion of funds attrib26 utable under this paragraph to States that have not 
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1 submitted qualifying proposals in the time and man2 ner specified by the Secretary shall be distributed 

3 pro rata to the States that have submitted qualifying 

4 proposals in the specified time and manner. 

5 (c) COMPETITION.—If more than $80,000,000 is 

6 available for the program under this section for any fiscal 

7 year, the Secretary shall allocate 75 percent of the total 

8 amount of funds available according to subsection (b)(3), 

9 and shall award the remaining 25 percent on a competitive 

10 basis to the States with the proposals the Secretary con11 siders most likely to encourage the widespread adoption 

12 of photovoltaic technologies. 

13 (d) PROPOSALS.—Not later than 6 months after the 

14 date of enactment of this Act, and in each subsequent fis15 cal year for the life of the program, the Secretary shall 

16 solicit proposals from the States to participate in the pro17 gram under this section. 

18 (e) COMPETITIVE CRITERIA.—In awarding funds in 

19 a competitive allocation under subsection (c), the Sec20 retary shall consider— 

21 (1) the likelihood of a proposal to encourage the 

22 demonstration of, or lower the costs of, advanced 

23 photovoltaic technologies; and 

24 (2) the extent to which a proposal is likely to— 
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1 (A) maximize the amount of photovoltaics 

2 demonstrated; 

3 (B) maximize the proportion of non-Fed4 eral cost share; and 

5 (C) limit State administrative costs. 

6 (f) STATE PROGRAM.—A program operated by a 

7 State with funding under this section shall provide com8 petitive awards for the demonstration of advanced photo9 voltaic technologies. Each State program shall— 

10 (1) require a contribution of at least 60 percent 

11 per award from non-Federal sources, which may in12 clude any combination of State, local, and private 

13 funds, except that at least 10 percent of the funding 

14 must be supplied by the State; 

15 (2) limit awards for any single project to a 

16 maximum of $1,000,000; 

17 (3) prohibit any nongovernmental recipient 

18 from receiving more than $1,000,000 per year; 

19 (4) endeavor to fund recipients in the commer20 cial, industrial, institutional, governmental, and resi21 dential sectors; 

22 (5) limit State administrative costs to no more 

23 than 10 percent of the grant; 

24 (6) report annually to the Secretary on— 

25 (A) the amount of funds disbursed; 
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1 (B) the amount of photovoltaics purchased; 

2 and 

3 (C) the results of the monitoring under 

4 paragraph (7); 

5 (7) provide for measurement and verification of 

6 the output of a representative sample of the 

7 photovoltaics systems demonstrated throughout the 

8 average working life of the systems, or at least 20 

9 years; and 

10 (8) require that applicant buildings must have 

11 received an independent energy efficiency audit dur12 ing the 6-month period preceding the filing of the 

13 application. 

14 (g) UNEXPENDED FUNDS.—If a State fails to expend 

15 any funds received under subsection (b) or (c) within 3 

16 years of receipt, such remaining funds shall be returned 

17 to the Treasury. 

18 (h) REPORTS.—The Secretary shall report to Con19 gress 5 years after funds are first distributed to the States 

20 under this section— 

21 (1) the amount of photovoltaics demonstrated; 

22 (2) the number of projects undertaken; 

23 (3) the administrative costs of the program; 
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1 (4) the amount of funds that each State has 

2 not received because of a failure to submit a quali3 fying proposal, as described in subsection (b)(3); 

4 (5) the results of the monitoring under sub5 section (f)(7); and 

6 (6) the total amount of funds distributed, in7 cluding a breakdown by State. 

8 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

9 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for the 

10 purposes of carrying out this section— 

11 (1) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; 

12 (2) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; 

13 (3) $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; 

14 (4) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; and 

15 (5) $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2011. 

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