I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5640 

To provide for the establishment at the Department of Energy of an 

Electricity Storage Basic Research Initiative. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 6, 2016 

Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. 

KNIGHT, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. HULTGREN, Mr. POSEY, Mr. 

MOOLENAAR, and Mr. BABIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment at the Department of 

Energy of an Electricity Storage Basic Research Initiative. 

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 ‘‘Electricity Storage In5 novation Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ELECTRICITY STORAGE BASIC RESEARCH INITIA2 TIVE. 

3 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 975 of the Energy Policy 

4 Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16315) is amended to read as 

5 follows: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 975. ELECTRICITY STORAGE BASIC RESEARCH INI7 TIATIVE. 

8 ‘‘(a) INITIATIVE.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

10 out a research initiative, to be known as the Elec11 tricity Storage Basic Research Initiative, to expand 

12 theoretical and fundamental knowledge to control, 

13 store, and convert electrical energy to chemical en14 ergy and the inverse. This initiative shall support 

15 scientific inquiry into the practical understanding of 

16 chemical and physical processes that occur within 

17 systems involving crystalline and amorphous solids, 

18 polymers, and organic and aqueous liquids. 

19 ‘‘(2) LEVERAGING.—The Secretary shall lever20 age expertise and resources from the Basic Energy 

21 Sciences Program, Advanced Scientific Computing 

22 Research Program, and Biological and Environ23 mental Research Program within the Office of 

24 Science, and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Re25 newable Energy, as provided under subsections (b), 

26 (c), and (d). 


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1 ‘‘(3) TEAMS.—The Secretary shall organize ac2 tivities under the Electricity Storage Basic Research 

3 Initiative to include multidisciplinary teams levera4 ging expertise from the National Laboratories, uni5 versities, and the private sector to the extent prac6 ticable. These multidisciplinary teams shall pursue 

7 aggressive, milestone-driven basic research goals. 

8 The Secretary shall provide sufficient resources for 

9 those teams to achieve those goals over a period of 

10 time to be determined by the Secretary. 

11 ‘‘(4) ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary 

12 is authorized to organize additional activities under 

13 this subsection through Energy Frontier Research 

14 Centers or other organizational structures. 

15 ‘‘(b) MULTIVALENT SYSTEMS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, as 

17 part of the Electricity Storage Basic Research Ini18 tiative, carry out a program to support research 

19 needed to bridge scientific barriers and discover 

20 knowledge relevant to multivalent ion materials in 

21 electric energy storage systems. In carrying out ac22 tivities under this subsection, the Director of the Of23 fice of Basic Energy Sciences shall investigate elec24 trochemical properties and the dynamics of mate25 rials, including charge transfer phenomena and mass 


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1 transport in materials. The Assistant Secretary for 

2 Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy shall sup3 port translational research, development, and valida4 tion of physical concepts developed under this sub5 section. 

6 ‘‘(2) STANDARD OF REVIEW.—The Secretary 

7 shall review the program activities under this sub8 section to determine the achievement of technical 

9 milestones. 

10 ‘‘(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(A) AUTHORIZATION.—Subject to sub12 section (e), there are authorized for carrying 

13 out activities under this subsection for each of 

14 fiscal years 2017 through 2020— 

15 ‘‘(i) $50,000,000 from funds within 

16 the Basic Energy Sciences Program ac17 count; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) $25,000,000 from funds within 

19 the Energy Efficiency and Renewable En20 ergy account. 

21 ‘‘(B) PROHIBITION.—No funds authorized 

22 under this subsection may be obligated or ex23 pended for commercial application of energy 

24 technology. 


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1 ‘‘(c) ELECTROCHEMISTRY MODELING AND SIMULA2 TION.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, as 

4 part of the Electricity Storage Basic Research Ini5 tiative, carry out a program to support research to 

6 model and simulate organic electrolytes, including 

7 their static and dynamic electrochemical behavior 

8 and phenomena at the molecular and atomic level in 

9 monovalent and multivalent systems. In carrying out 

10 activities under this subsection, the Director of the 

11 Office of Basic Energy Sciences shall, in coordina12 tion with the Associate Director of Advanced Sci13 entific Computing Research, support the develop14 ment of high performance computational tools 

15 through a joint development process to maximize the 

16 effectiveness of current and projected high perform17 ance computing systems. The Assistant Secretary 

18 for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy shall 

19 support translational research, development, and val20 idation of physical concepts developed under this 

21 subsection. 

22 ‘‘(2) STANDARD OF REVIEW.—The Secretary 

23 shall review the program activities under this sub24 section to determine the achievement of technical 

25 milestones. 


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1 ‘‘(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 ‘‘(A) AUTHORIZATION.—Subject to sub3 section (e), there are authorized for carrying 

4 out activities under this subsection for each of 

5 fiscal years 2017 through 2020— 

6 ‘‘(i) $30,000,000 from funds within 

7 the Basic Energy Sciences Program and 

8 Advanced Scientific Computing Research 

9 Program accounts; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) $15,000,000 from funds within 

11 the Energy Efficiency and Renewable En12 ergy account. 

13 ‘‘(B) PROHIBITION.—No funds authorized 

14 under this subsection may be obligated or ex15 pended for commercial application of energy 

16 technology. 

17 ‘‘(d) MESOSCALE ELECTROCHEMISTRY.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, as 

19 part of the Electricity Storage Basic Research Ini20 tiative, carry out a program to support research 

21 needed to reveal electrochemistry in confined 

22 mesoscale spaces, including scientific discoveries rel23 evant to bio-electrochemistry and electrochemical en24 ergy conversion and storage in confined spaces and 

25 the dynamics of these phenomena. In carrying out 


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1 activities under this subsection, the Director of the 

2 Office of Basic Energy Sciences and the Associate 

3 Director of Biological and Environmental Research 

4 shall investigate phenomena of mesoscale electro5 chemical confinement for the purpose of replicating 

6 and controlling new electrochemical behavior. The 

7 Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Re8 newable Energy shall support translational research, 

9 development, and validation of physical concepts de10 veloped under this subsection. 

11 ‘‘(2) STANDARD OF REVIEW.—The Secretary 

12 shall review the program activities under this sub13 section to determine the achievement of technical 

14 milestones. 

15 ‘‘(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(A) AUTHORIZATION.—Subject to sub17 section (e), there are authorized for carrying 

18 out activities under this subsection for each of 

19 fiscal years 2017 through 2020— 

20 ‘‘(i) $20,000,000 from funds within 

21 the Basic Energy Sciences Program and 

22 the Biological and Environmental Research 

23 Program accounts; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) $10,000,000 from funds within 

2 the Energy Efficiency and Renewable En3 ergy account. 

4 ‘‘(B) PROHIBITION.—No funds authorized 

5 under this subsection may be obligated or ex6 pended for commercial application of energy 

7 technology. 

8 ‘‘(e) FUNDING.—No additional funds are authorized 

9 to be appropriated under this section. This section shall 

10 be carried out using funds otherwise authorized by law.’’. 

11 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The item 

12 relating to section 975 in the table of contents of such 

13 Act is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘Sec. 975. Electricity Storage Basic Research Initiative.’’. 

Æ 


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