II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2422 

To advance the integration of clean distributed energy into electric grids, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2019 

Mrs. SHAHEEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To advance the integration of clean distributed energy into 

electric grids, 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 ‘‘Clean Energy Grid 

5 Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) research by the Secretary of Energy and the 

9 Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

10 Agency has found that clean distributed energy techVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•S 2422 IS

1 nologies can create important values for both the 

2 host facility and the electric grid operator; 

3 (2) the values described in paragraph (1) can 

4 include, for the host facility— 

5 (A) energy bill savings; 

6 (B) additional revenue from offering ancil7 lary services to the electric grid operator; 

8 (C) increased electric reliability in the 

9 event of grid outages; and 

10 (D) improved electric power quality; 

11 (3) the values described in paragraph (1) can 

12 include, for the electric grid operator— 

13 (A) avoiding the need for transmission and 

14 distribution upgrade investments; 

15 (B) enhanced grid stability by providing 

16 reactive power; 

17 (C) voltage and frequency stabilization; 

18 and 

19 (D) more reliable and stable operation of 

20 the grid by providing dispatchable energy to the 

21 grid during periods of insufficient capacity or 

22 supply; and 

23 (4) new advances in intelligent sensing and sim24 ulation and control technologies offer the potential 

25 to enhance the benefits of clean distributed generaVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•S 2422 IS

1 tion to both the host facility and the electric grid op2 erator from dynamic, adaptive, and anticipatory re3 sponse to changing grid conditions. 

4 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) ANCILLARY SERVICE.—The term ‘‘ancillary 

7 service’’ means those services necessary to support 

8 the transmission of electric power from seller to pur9 chaser given the obligations of control areas and 

10 transmitting utilities within those control areas to 

11 maintain reliable operations of the interconnected 

12 transmission system. 

13 (2) CLEAN DISTRIBUTED ENERGY.—The term 

14 ‘‘clean distributed energy’’ means energy tech15 nologies that are located on or near the customer 

16 site operating on the customer side of the electric 

17 meter and are interconnected with the electric grid, 

18 including— 

19 (A) clean electric generation; 

20 (B) customer electric efficiency measures; 

21 (C) electric demand flexibility; and 

22 (D) energy storage. 

23 (3) GRID.—The term ‘‘grid’’ means the electric 

24 grid that is composed of both distribution and transVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•S 2422 IS

1 mission lines, and associated facilities, including sub2 stations, sensors, and operational controls. 

3 (4) INTELLIGENCE.—The term ‘‘intelligence’’ 

4 means any devices or technologies that manifest 

5 adaptive, anticipatory, and dynamic optimization be6 havior. 

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

8 the Secretary of Energy. 

9 SEC. 4. RESEARCH AND DEPLOYMENT PLAN FOR EN10 HANCED INTEGRATION OF CLEAN DISTRIB11 UTED ENERGY WITH THE GRID. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out ef13 forts for advancing the integration of clean distributed en14 ergy into electric grids. 

15 (b) STUDY AND REPORT ON THE STATUS OF GRID

16 INTEGRATION.— 

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

18 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec19 retary, after consultation with State public utility 

20 commissions, State energy offices, regional trans21 mission organizations, electric and natural gas utili22 ties, independent power producers, clean distributed 

23 energy providers, public interest organizations, and 

24 other appropriate stakeholders, shall conduct a study 

25 on the status of integration of clean distributed enVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2422.IS S2422

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
5 

•S 2422 IS

1 ergy into the grid, identifying any issues that require 

2 additional research or regulatory development. 

3 (2) INCLUSIONS.—In conducting the study 

4 under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 

5 (A) identify and quantify the benefits to all 

6 stakeholders of expanded integration of clean 

7 distributed energy resources into the grid; 

8 (B) identify any technical issues (including 

9 cybersecurity concerns) that require research to 

10 identify solutions; and 

11 (C) identify any regulatory barriers that 

12 inhibit the expanded integration of clean dis13 tributed energy resources into the grid. 

14 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

15 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

16 submit to Congress a report describing the results of 

17 the study conducted under paragraph (1). 

18 (4) BEST PRACTICES.—Based on the findings 

19 of the report described in paragraph (3), the Sec20 retary shall establish and distribute to States best 

21 practices to encourage the integration of clean dis22 tributed energy into the grid. 

23 (5) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall use unobli24 gated funds of the Department of Energy to carry 

25 out this subsection. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
6 

•S 2422 IS

1 (c) RESEARCH INTO THE TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO

2 THE INTEGRATION OF CLEAN DISTRIBUTED ENERGY

3 WITH THE GRID.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

5 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec6 retary shall— 

7 (A) issue a solicitation for research pro8 posals to address the technical barriers identi9 fied in the report submitted under subsection 

10 (b)(3); and 

11 (B) make grants to those applicants with 

12 research proposals selected by the Secretary in 

13 accordance with paragraph (2). 

14 (2) CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall select re15 search proposals to receive a grant under this sub16 section on the basis of merit, using criteria identified 

17 by the Secretary, including the likelihood that the 

18 research results will address critical barriers identi19 fied by the Secretary. 

20 (3) FUNDING.—Beginning in the first full fiscal 

21 year following the date of enactment of this Act, and 

22 annually thereafter for 2 years, the Secretary may 

23 request funding as necessary to carry out this sub24 section, but in no case shall funding exceed 

25 $5,000,000 in any 1 fiscal year. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
7 

•S 2422 IS

1 (d) CREATION OF A STAKEHOLDER WORKING

2 GROUP.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

4 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec5 retary shall convene a working group (referred to in 

6 this subsection as the ‘‘Group’’) to address regu7 latory barriers to deployment of intelligent grid inte8 gration of clean distributed energy technologies. 

9 (2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Group is to 

10 provide guidance on how to address the regulatory 

11 and economic factors that limit widespread integra12 tion of grid-level clean distributed energy use in 

13 order to advance the integration of clean distributed 

14 energy into electric grids. 

15 (3) MEMBERSHIP.—The Group shall be com16 posed of— 

17 (A) representatives from— 

18 (i) State public utility commissions; 

19 (ii) State energy offices; 

20 (iii) regional transmission organiza21 tions; 

22 (iv) electric and natural gas utilities; 

23 (v) independent power producers; 

24 (vi) clean distributed energy providers; 

25 and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
8 

•S 2422 IS

1 (vii) public interest organizations; and 

2 (B) any other appropriate stakeholders de3 termined by the Secretary to have a material 

4 interest in the development, implementation, 

5 siting, and integration of clean distributed en6 ergy technology or systems into the electric 

7 grid. 

8 (4) DUTIES.—The duties of the Group shall 

9 be— 

10 (A) to review the regulatory barriers iden11 tified in the report prepared by the Secretary 

12 under subsection (b)(3); 

13 (B) to identify any additional regulatory 

14 barriers that inhibit the installation of distrib15 uted energy; and 

16 (C) to recommend to the Secretary actions 

17 that should be considered to remove the bar18 riers identified under subparagraphs (A) and 

19 (B). 

20 (5) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the 

21 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

22 prepare and submit to Congress a report based on 

23 the recommendations of the Group under paragraph 

24 (4)(C), to be made publicly available. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
9 

•S 2422 IS

1 (6) FUNDING.—The Secretary may request 

2 funding as necessary to carry out this subsection, 

3 but in no case shall funding exceed $2,000,000 in 

4 any 1 fiscal year. 

5 (e) DEMONSTRATIONS OF INTELLIGENT GRID INTE6 GRATION OF CLEAN DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEMS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Based on the findings in the 

8 reports conducted under this section and not later 

9 than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 

10 the Secretary shall issue a solicitation for dem11 onstration of integration of distributed energy re12 sources into the grid. 

13 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Any individual entity 

14 or group of entities may submit to the Secretary 

15 proposals for demonstration projects based on the 

16 solicitation described in paragraph (1), including— 

17 (A) State and local agencies; 

18 (B) public institutions; 

19 (C) private companies; 

20 (D) electric and natural gas utilities; and 

21 (E) equipment manufacturers. 

22 (3) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may 

23 make grants, in amounts not to exceed a total of 

24 $5,000,000, to eligible entities to carry out dem25 onstration projects, to be selected based on— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
10 

•S 2422 IS

1 (A) the technical merits of the demonstra2 tion project; 

3 (B) the likelihood that the demonstration 

4 project will address critical barriers identified 

5 by the Secretary under this section; and 

6 (C) the share of non-Federal funds for the 

7 demonstration project. 

8 (4) FUNDING.—Beginning in the third full fis9 cal year following the date of enactment of this Act, 

10 and annually thereafter for 3 years, the Secretary 

11 may request funding as necessary to carry out this 

12 subsection, but in no case shall funding exceed 

13 $15,000,000 in any 1 fiscal year. 

14 (f) REPORT.—The Secretary annually shall submit to 

15 Congress a report that— 

16 (1) describes the progress made in carrying out 

17 this section; and 

18 (2) identifies any technical or regulatory issues 

19 that require legislative action. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS