I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6344 

To promote the research, development, demonstration, and commercial application of marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies, to identify the potential environmental impacts of these technologies and ways 

to address these impacts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 

Mr. INSLEE (for himself and Mr. BAIRD) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Science and Technology 

A BILL 

To promote the research, development, demonstration, and 

commercial application of marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies, to identify the potential environmental impacts of these technologies and ways to 

address these impacts, 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 ‘‘Marine and 

5 Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of this Act— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘marine and hydrokinetic renew2 able energy’’ has the meaning given that term in 

3 section 632 of the Energy Independence and Secu4 rity Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17211); and 

5 (2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

6 of Energy. 

7 (b) AMENDMENT.—Section 632 of the Energy Inde8 pendence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17211) is 

9 amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 632. DEFINITION. 

11 ‘‘For the purposes of this subtitle the term ‘marine 

12 and hydrokinetic renewable energy’ means energy from— 

13 ‘‘(1) waves, tides, and currents in oceans, estu14 aries, and tidal areas; 

15 ‘‘(2) free flowing water in rivers, lakes, man16 made water systems, and streams; 

17 ‘‘(3) salinity gradients; and 

18 ‘‘(4) water temperature gradients, including 

19 ocean thermal energy conversion. 

20 The term ‘marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy’ does 

21 not include energy from any source that uses a dam, diver22 sionary structure, or impoundment for electric power pur23 poses.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, DEMONSTRATION, AND 

2 COMMERCIAL APPLICATION PROGRAM. 

3 Section 633(a) of the Energy Independence and Se4 curity Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17212(a)) is amended to 

5 read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta8 tion with the Secretary of Commerce, acting through 

9 the Administrator of the National Oceanic and At10 mospheric Administration, shall establish a program 

11 of marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy tech12 nology research, development, demonstration, and 

13 commercial application, which shall include activities 

14 to address the following: 

15 ‘‘(A) Testing technologies, devices, and 

16 systems at a variety of scales to facilitate their 

17 commercial application. 

18 ‘‘(B) Identifying, assessing, and finding 

19 ways to avoid and minimize environmental im20 pacts potentially arising from marine and 

21 hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies. 

22 ‘‘(C) Establishing and expanding test cen23 ters and facilities. 

24 ‘‘(D) Reducing the manufacturing, instal25 lation, operation, and maintenance costs of 

26 technologies. 


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1 ‘‘(E) Increasing performance, reliability, 

2 and survivability of technologies, devices, sys3 tems, and facilities. 

4 ‘‘(F) Integrating technologies into the na5 tional electric grid. 

6 ‘‘(G) Identifying, developing, dem7 onstrating, and transferring to the private sec8 tor advanced systems engineering and system 

9 integration methods to identify critical inter10 faces. 

11 ‘‘(H) Developing numerical and physical 

12 tools, including models and monitoring tech13 nologies, to assist industry in device and system 

14 design and operation. 

15 ‘‘(I) Determining the potential availability, 

16 extractability, and cost-effectiveness of marine 

17 and hydrokinetic renewable energy generation 

18 in the United States. 

19 ‘‘(J) Supporting material sciences, includ20 ing the development of corrosive-resistant mate21 rials. 

22 ‘‘(K) Designing and developing evaluation 

23 and performance standards domestically and 

24 with international partners. 


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1 ‘‘(L) Applying model predictions of rel2 evant oceanic and atmospheric variables on time 

3 scales necessary for development and operation 

4 of marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy 

5 technologies, including for integration onto the 

6 electricity grid. 

7 ‘‘(M) Identifying opportunities to transfer 

8 knowledge from existing marine and other in9 dustries to technology developers. 

10 ‘‘(N) Identifying opportunities and benefits 

11 from colocated development of multiple renew12 able energy technologies or other activities. 

13 ‘‘(O) Identifying the potential impacts on 

14 navigation of marine and hydrokinetic renew15 able energy technologies, and identifying meas16 ures to avoid and minimize adverse impacts on 

17 these uses. 

18 ‘‘(P) Improving interagency collaboration 

19 to address challenges associated with the devel20 opment of marine and hydrokinetic renewable 

21 energy technologies. 

22 ‘‘(Q) Any other area of marine and 

23 hydrokinetic renewable energy technology devel24 opment that the Secretary considers appro25 priate. 


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1 ‘‘(2) SEPARATION.—The program established 

2 under paragraph (1) shall be separate from the 

3 Wind and Hydropower Program at the Department 

4 of Energy.’’. 

5 SEC. 4. ENERGY GENERATION TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRA6 TION GRANTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out section 633 of the 

8 Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 

9 U.S.C. 17212), the Secretary shall establish a competitive 

10 marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy technology 

11 demonstration grant program to— 

12 (1) verify the performance, reliability, maintain13 ability, environmental impact, and cost of technology 

14 components, devices, and system designs in an oper15 ating environment; and 

16 (2) facilitate the commercial application of tech17 nology components, devices, and systems at a variety 

18 of scales. 

19 (b) ACTIVITIES.—Activities that may be funded 

20 under this section include the following: 

21 (1) Providing stakeholders and industry with an 

22 opportunity to test and evaluate, including by con23 necting to the national electrical grid, marine and 

24 hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies at a vari25 ety of scales, including full-scale prototypes. 


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1 (2) Documenting and communicating technical, 

2 environmental and, economic information from 

3 projects for the benefit of utilities, independent 

4 power producers, other nonutility generators, device 

5 suppliers, and other stakeholders. 

6 (3) Obtaining operating, maintenance, and cost 

7 data sufficiently rigorous to evaluate demonstrated 

8 technologies, components, devices, and systems. 

9 (4) Providing information to the public on po10 tential positive and negative environmental impacts, 

11 effective monitoring techniques, and engineering de12 sign improvements to reduce environmental impacts 

13 throughout demonstration projects. 

14 (5) Conducting research, development, and 

15 monitoring activities necessary to support the dem16 onstration project. 

17 SEC. 5. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND 

18 DEMONSTRATION GRANTS. 

19 In carrying out section 633 of the Energy Independ20 ence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17212), the 

21 Secretary shall establish a competitive research, develop22 ment, and demonstration grant program to identify, as23 sess, and find ways to avoid and minimize environmental 

24 impacts potentially arising from marine and hydrokinetic 


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1 renewable energy technologies, devices, and systems. The 

2 program shall— 

3 (1) measure such potential impacts; 

4 (2) evaluate any environmental risks associated 

5 with marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy tech6 nologies, devices, and systems; 

7 (3) research and evaluate the effectiveness of 

8 strategies, including adaptive management, to avoid, 

9 minimize, or eliminate such potential impacts; 

10 (4) develop and demonstrate monitoring and 

11 other technologies needed to identify such potential 

12 impacts; 

13 (5) support baseline environmental research, in14 cluding ecological characterization of marine eco15 systems, for specific demonstration projects; 

16 (6) facilitate public-private cooperation, includ17 ing identification and assessment of relevant existing 

18 private sector technologies; and 

19 (7) communicate and disseminate to the public 

20 information generated from a grant awarded under 

21 this section to aid in efficient and environmentally 

22 responsible technology development, except to the ex23 tent that the information is protected from disclo24 sure under applicable law. 


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1 SEC. 6. TEST FACILITIES. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out section 

3 633(a)(1)(C) of the Energy Independence and Security 

4 Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17212(a)(1)(C)), not later than 

5 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec6 retary shall award competitive grants to support 3 or more 

7 geographically dispersed marine and hydrokinetic renew8 able energy technology research, development, and dem9 onstration test facilities for the demonstration of multiple 

10 technologies in actual operating environments. These 

11 grants may support modification of an existing facility, in12 cluding a Center established under section 634 of the En13 ergy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 

14 17213), or construction of a new test facility. 

15 (b) PROGRAM OBJECTIVES.—In awarding grants 

16 under this section, the Secretary shall provide for— 

17 (1) the demonstration of a variety of tech18 nologies at each test facility; 

19 (2) the demonstration of a variety of tech20 nologies among all of the test facilities established; 

21 and 

22 (3) the demonstration of technologies at a vari23 ety of scales. 

24 (c) ACTIVITIES.—Each test facility established under 

25 this section shall— 


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1 (1) provide infrastructure and resources for the 

2 evaluation and technical viability testing of marine 

3 and hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies; and 

4 (2) conduct and support research, development, 

5 and demonstration activities with respect to marine 

6 and hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies, in7 cluding in support of the program and activities de8 scribed in sections 4 and 5. 

9 (d) APPLICANTS.—An applicant for a grant under 

10 this section shall be a nonprofit institution, State or local 

11 government, institution of higher education, National Lab12 oratory, or Center established under section 634 of the 

13 Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 

14 U.S.C. 17213), which can demonstrate to the satisfaction 

15 of the Secretary the ability and intention to— 

16 (1) combine expertise from relevant academic 

17 fields, including those related to the environment, 

18 marine sciences, energy, and electrical, mechanical, 

19 and civil engineering; and 

20 (2) partner with other entities that have exper21 tise in advancing marine and hydrokinetic renewable 

22 energy technologies. 

23 (e) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The Secretary shall provide 

24 no more than a total of $50,000,000 in Federal assistance, 

25 under this or any other Act, for each test facility. 


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1 (f) AMENDMENTS.—Section 634 of the Energy Inde2 pendence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17213) is 

3 amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘marine re5 newable energy technologies’’ and inserting ‘‘marine 

6 and hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies’’; 

7 and 

8 (2) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol9 lows: 

10 ‘‘(b) PURPOSES.—The Centers shall advance re11 search, development, demonstration, and commercial ap12 plication of marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy 

13 technologies and— 

14 ‘‘(1) shall serve as information clearinghouses 

15 for the marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy 

16 industry, collecting and disseminating information 

17 on best practices in all areas related to developing 

18 and managing marine and hydrokinetic renewable 

19 energy technologies; and 

20 ‘‘(2) may serve as technology test facilities es21 tablished under section 6 of the Marine and 

22 Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 

23 2010.’’. 


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1 SEC. 7. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF PRO2 GRAMS. 

3 (a) COORDINATION AND NONDUPLICATION.—In car4 rying out this Act the Secretary shall coordinate and avoid 

5 duplication of activities across programs of the Depart6 ment of Energy and with other relevant Federal agencies, 

7 including with those of the National Laboratories. 

8 (b) COLLABORATION.—In carrying out this Act the 

9 Secretary shall collaborate with industry, stakeholders, the 

10 National Laboratories, other relevant Federal agencies, 

11 relevant academic institutions, and international bodies 

12 with relevant scientific expertise. 

13 (c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall ob14 tain from the recipient of assistance under this Act and 

15 make available to the public, through Department 

16 websites, reports, and databases, any research, develop17 ment, demonstration, and commercial application informa18 tion generated with respect to the technology supported 

19 under this Act, including information discovered after the 

20 completion of activities supported under this Act, except 

21 to the extent that the information is protected from disclo22 sure under section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code. 

23 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 

24 after the date of enactment of this Act, and at least once 

25 every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall transmit to 


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1 the Congress a report on the findings and activities under 

2 this Act. 

3 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec5 retary to carry out this Act— 

6 (1) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2011, to re7 main available until expended, of which— 

8 (A) $40,000,000 shall be for carrying out 

9 section 4; 

10 (B) $40,000,000 shall be for carrying out 

11 section 5; and 

12 (C) $100,000,000 shall be for carrying out 

13 section 6; and 

14 (2) $150,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2012 

15 through 2015, to remain available until expended, of 

16 which— 

17 (A) $70,000,000 shall be for carrying out 

18 section 4; and 

19 (B) $60,000,000 shall be for carrying out 

20 section 5. 

Æ 


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