II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2447 

To require the Secretary of Energy to establish or designate the Distributed 

Energy Opportunity Board to carry out a program to facilitate a voluntary streamlined process for local permitting of distributed renewable 

energy, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging systems, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 

Mr. HEINRICH (for himself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Energy to establish or designate 

the Distributed Energy Opportunity Board to carry out 

a program to facilitate a voluntary streamlined process 

for local permitting of distributed renewable energy, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging 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 ‘‘American Energy Op5 portunity Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) AUTHORITY HAVING JURISDICTION.—The 

4 term ‘‘authority having jurisdiction’’ means any 

5 State, county, local, or Tribal office or official with 

6 jurisdiction— 

7 (A) to issue permits; 

8 (B) to conduct inspections to enforce the 

9 requirements of a relevant code or standard; or 

10 (C) to approve the installation of, or the 

11 equipment and materials used in the installa12 tion of, qualifying distributed energy systems. 

13 (2) BOARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the 

14 Distributed Energy Opportunity Board established 

15 or designated under section 3(a). 

16 (3) DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEM IN17 STALLER.—The term ‘‘distributed energy system in18 staller’’ means an entity or individual— 

19 (A) with knowledge and skills relating to— 

20 (i) the construction and operation of 

21 the equipment used in qualifying distrib22 uted energy systems; and 

23 (ii) the installation of qualifying dis24 tributed energy systems; and 

25 (B) that has employed safety training to 

26 recognize and avoid the hazards involved in conVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2447.IS S2447

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1 structing, operating, and installing qualifying 

2 distributed energy systems. 

3 (4) QUALIFYING DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYS4 TEM.—The term ‘‘qualifying distributed energy sys5 tem’’ means any equipment or materials installed in, 

6 on, or near a residential, commercial, or industrial 

7 building to support onsite or local energy use, in8 cluding— 

9 (A) to generate electricity from distributed 

10 renewable energy sources, including from— 

11 (i) solar photovoltaic modules or simi12 lar solar energy technologies; and 

13 (ii) wind power systems; 

14 (B) to store and discharge electricity from 

15 batteries with a capacity of at least 2 kilowatt 

16 hours; 

17 (C) to charge a plug-in electric drive vehi18 cle at a power rate of at least 2 kilowatts; or 

19 (D) to refuel a fuel cell electric vehicle. 

20 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

21 the Secretary of Energy. 

22 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OR DESIGNATION OF THE DIS23 TRIBUTED ENERGY OPPORTUNITY BOARD. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

25 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consultaVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2447.IS S2447

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1 tion with trade associations and other entities representing 

2 distributed energy system installers and organizations rep3 resenting State, local, and Tribal governments engaged in 

4 permitting, shall establish or designate a nonprofit cor5 poration, to be known as the ‘‘Distributed Energy Oppor6 tunity Board’’, to carry out a voluntary program to 

7 streamline the process for local permitting and inspection 

8 of qualifying distributed energy systems. 

9 (b) COMPOSITION.—The Board shall include rep10 resentatives from— 

11 (1) relevant Federal agencies, or organizations 

12 that represent those agencies; 

13 (2) State, local, and Tribal governments, or or14 ganizations that represent those governments; 

15 (3) distributed energy generation companies; 

16 (4) battery storage companies; 

17 (5) associations that represent the distributed 

18 energy generation and battery storage industry; 

19 (6) building code agencies and organizations, 

20 including a model energy code-setting organization; 

21 and 

22 (7) other codes and standards organizations. 

23 (c) PURPOSE AND ACTIVITIES OF THE BOARD.— 

24 (1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Board is to 

25 establish a voluntary program for facilitating— 


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1 (A) streamlined permitting processes of 

2 qualifying distributed energy systems; and 

3 (B) certification of distributed energy sys4 tem installers. 

5 (2) ACTIVITIES.—The Board shall— 

6 (A) develop and maintain a streamlined 

7 permitting process, such as a national online 

8 permitting system and technology platform for 

9 expediting, standardizing, and streamlining per10 mitting, that authorities having jurisdiction 

11 may use, at the discretion of those authorities, 

12 to receive, review, and approve permit applica13 tions relating to qualifying distributed energy 

14 systems; 

15 (B) establish a model expedited permit-to16 build protocol for qualifying distributed energy 

17 systems; 

18 (C) provide technical assistance to authori19 ties having jurisdiction on using and adopting— 

20 (i) the streamlined permitting process 

21 described in subparagraph (A); and 

22 (ii) the model expedited permit-to23 build protocol described in subparagraph 

24 (B); 


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1 (D)(i) investigate the development of vol2 untary national certifications for distributed en3 ergy system installers and qualifying distributed 

4 energy systems; and 

5 (ii) if the Board determines that the na6 tional certifications would expedite and stream7 line the permitting and inspection process, de8 velop the voluntary national certifications; 

9 (E) develop and maintain a voluntary na10 tional inspection protocol integrated with the 

11 national online permitting system described in 

12 subparagraphs (A) and (B) and related tools to 

13 expedite, standardize, and streamline the in14 spection of qualifying distributed energy sys15 tems, including— 

16 (i) by investigating the potential for 

17 using remote inspections; and 

18 (ii) by investigating the potential for 

19 sample-based inspection for distributed en20 ergy system installers with a demonstrated 

21 track record of high-quality work; and 

22 (F) take any other action to expedite, 

23 standardize, streamline, or improve the process 

24 for permitting, inspecting, or interconnecting 

25 qualifying distributed energy systems. 


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1 (d) FEE AUTHORITY.—The Board may assess fees 

2 for the provision of services by the Board in amounts de3 termined reasonable and appropriate by the Board, includ4 ing fees from participating distributed energy system in5 stallers relating to the activities of the Board described 

6 in subsection (c)(2). 

7 (e) NONPROFIT STATUS.—The Board shall be consid8 ered to be an organization described in section 501(c)(3) 

9 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and exempt from 

10 taxation under section 501(a) of that Code. 

11 (f) SUPPORT SERVICES.—The Secretary shall— 

12 (1) provide technical assistance to the Board in 

13 carrying out the activities described in subsection 

14 (c)(2); and 

15 (2) provide such financial assistance to the 

16 Board as the Secretary determines to be appropriate 

17 from any funds appropriated to carry out this Act. 

18 SEC. 4. DISTRIBUTED ENERGY OPPORTUNITY COMMU19 NITIES. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall recognize and 

21 certify certain communities as ‘‘Distributed Energy Op22 portunity Communities’’. 

23 (b) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Secretary may certify a 

24 State, local community, or Tribe as a ‘‘Distributed Energy 

25 Opportunity Community’’ if that State, local community, 


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1 or Tribe has adopted and implemented the model expe2 dited permit-to-build protocol established by the Board. 

3 (c) PROCESS.—The Secretary may confer a certifi4 cation under subsection (a) through existing programs of 

5 the Department of Energy. 

6 (d) GRANTS.—The Secretary may award competitive 

7 grants, using funds appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

8 out this Act, to encourage communities to adopt the model 

9 expedited permit-to-build protocol and standardized in10 spection processes established by the Board. 

11 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

12 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec13 retary to carry out this Act $20,000,000 for each of fiscal 

14 years 2019 through 2024. 

Æ 


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