I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6779 

To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to reduce the 

vulnerability of the electric grid to physical attack, cyber attack, and 

other events, including by ensuring that large power transformers and 

other critical electric grid equipment are strategically located to ensure 

timely replacement of such equipment as may be necessary, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 18, 2022 

Mr. LAMB (for himself and Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a program 

to reduce the vulnerability of the electric grid to physical 

attack, cyber attack, and other events, including by ensuring that large power transformers and other critical 

electric grid equipment are strategically located to ensure 

timely replacement of such equipment as may be necessary, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grid Resilience and 

3 Infrastructure Depot Act of 2022’’ or the ‘‘GRID Act of 

4 2022’’. 

5 SEC. 2. STRATEGIC TRANSFORMER RESERVE AND RESIL6 IENCE PROGRAM. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 

8 a program to reduce the vulnerability of the electric grid 

9 to physical attack, cyber attack, electromagnetic pulse, 

10 geomagnetic disturbances, severe weather, climate change, 

11 and seismic events, including by— 

12 (1) ensuring that large power transformers, 

13 generator step-up transformers, power conversion 

14 equipment, and other critical electric grid equipment 

15 are strategically located to ensure timely replace16 ment of such equipment as may be necessary to re17 store electric grid function rapidly in the event of se18 vere damage to the electric grid due to physical at19 tack, cyber attack, electromagnetic pulse, geo20 magnetic disturbances, severe weather, climate 

21 change, or seismic events; and 

22 (2) establishing a coordinated plan to facilitate 

23 transportation of large power transformers, gener24 ator step-up transformers, power conversion equip25 ment, and other critical electric grid equipment. 


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1 (b) TRANSFORMER RESILIENCE.—In carrying out 

2 the program established under subsection (a), the Sec3 retary shall— 

4 (1) improve large power transformers, gener5 ator step-up transformers, power conversion equip6 ment, and other critical electric grid equipment by 

7 reducing their vulnerabilities; 

8 (2) develop, test, and deploy innovative equip9 ment designs that are more flexible and offer greater 

10 resiliency of electric grid functions; 

11 (3) coordinate with industry and manufacturers 

12 to standardize large power transformers, generator 

13 step-up transformers, power conversion equipment, 

14 and other critical electric grid equipment; 

15 (4) monitor and test large power transformers, 

16 generator step-up transformers, power conversion 

17 equipment, and other critical electric grid equipment 

18 that the Secretary determines may pose a risk to the 

19 bulk-power system or national security; and 

20 (5) facilitate the domestic manufacturing of 

21 large power transformers, generator step-up trans22 formers, power conversion equipment, and other crit23 ical electric grid equipment through the issuance of 

24 grants and loans, and through the provision of tech25 nical support. 


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1 (c) STRATEGIC EQUIPMENT RESERVES.— 

2 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—In carrying out the pro3 gram established under subsection (a), the Secretary 

4 may establish one or more federally owned strategic 

5 equipment reserves, as appropriate, to ensure na6 tionwide access to large power transformers, gener7 ator step-up transformers, power conversion equip8 ment, and other critical electric grid equipment. 

9 (2) CONSIDERATION.—In establishing any fed10 erally owned strategic equipment reserve, the Sec11 retary may consider existing spare transformer and 

12 equipment programs and requirements established 

13 by the private sector, Regional Transmission Organi14 zations, Independent System Operators, and State 

15 regulatory authorities. 

16 (3) IRON AND STEEL.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—In establishing any fed18 erally owned strategic equipment reserve, no 

19 Federal funds shall be used for the purchase of 

20 large power transformers, generator step-up 

21 transformers, power conversion equipment, or 

22 other critical electric grid equipment unless all 

23 of the iron and steel products used in such 

24 equipment are produced in the United States. 

25 (B) WAIVER.— 


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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

2 waive application of subparagraph (A) in 

3 any case or category of cases in which the 

4 Secretary finds that— 

5 (I) applying subparagraph (A) 

6 would be inconsistent with the public 

7 interest; 

8 (II) iron and steel products are 

9 not produced in the United States in 

10 sufficient and reasonably available 

11 quantities or of a satisfactory quality; 

12 or 

13 (III) inclusion of iron and steel 

14 products produced in the United 

15 States will increase the cost of the ap16 plicable large power transformers, 

17 generator step-up transformers, power 

18 conversion equipment, or other critical 

19 electric grid equipment by more than 

20 25 percent. 

21 (ii) PROCESS.—Before issuing a waiv22 er under this subparagraph, the Secretary 

23 shall— 

24 (I) make publicly available in an 

25 easily accessible location on a website 


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1 designated by the Office of Manage2 ment and Budget and on the website 

3 of the Department of Energy a de4 tailed written explanation for the pro5 posed determination to issue the waiv6 er; and 

7 (II) provide a period of not less 

8 than 15 days for public comment on 

9 the proposed waiver. 

10 (C) INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.—This 

11 paragraph shall be applied in a manner con12 sistent with United States obligations under 

13 international agreements. 

14 (D) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 

15 (i) the term ‘‘iron and steel products’’ 

16 includes electrical steel used in the manu17 facture of— 

18 (I) transformers; and 

19 (II) laminations, cores, and other 

20 transformer components; and 

21 (ii) in the case of iron and steel prod22 ucts, the term ‘‘produced in the United 

23 States’’ means that all manufacturing 

24 processes, from the initial melting stage 


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1 through the application of coatings, oc2 curred in the United States. 

3 (d) CONSULTATION.—The program established under 

4 subsection (a) shall be carried out in consultation with the 

5 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Electricity 

6 Subsector Coordinating Council, the Electric Reliability 

7 Organization, manufacturers, and owners and operators of 

8 critical electric infrastructure and defense and military in9 stallations. 

10 (e) PREVAILING WAGES.—Any laborer or mechanic 

11 employed by any contractor or subcontractor in the per12 formance of work funded directly, or assisted in whole or 

13 in part, by the Federal Government pursuant to this sec14 tion shall be paid wages at rates not less than those pre15 vailing on work of a similar character in the locality, as 

16 determined by the Secretary of Labor under subchapter 

17 IV of chapter 31 of title 40, United States Code (com18 monly referred to as the Davis-Bacon Act). With respect 

19 to the labor standards in this subsection, the Secretary 

20 of Labor shall have the authority and functions set forth 

21 in Reorganization Plan Numbered 14 of 1950 (64 Stat. 

22 1267; 5 U.S.C. App.) and section 3145 of title 40, United 

23 States Code. 

24 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

25 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 


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1 $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026, 

2 and such amounts shall remain available until expended. 

3 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) BULK-POWER SYSTEM; ELECTRIC RELI5 ABILITY ORGANIZATION.—The terms ‘‘bulk-power 

6 system’’ and ‘‘Electric Reliability Organization’’ 

7 have the meaning given such terms in section 215 

8 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824o). 

9 (2) CRITICAL ELECTRIC INFRASTRUCTURE.— 

10 The term ‘‘critical electric infrastructure’’ has the 

11 meaning given such term in section 215A of the 

12 Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824o–1). 

13 (3) INDEPENDENT SYSTEM OPERATOR; RE14 GIONAL TRANSMISSION ORGANIZATION STATE REGU15 LATORY AUTHORITY.—The terms ‘‘Regional Trans16 mission Organization’’, ‘‘Independent System Oper17 ator’’, and ‘‘State regulatory authority’’ have the 

18 meaning given such terms in section 3 of the Fed19 eral Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 

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

21 the Secretary of Energy. 

Æ 


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