I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2994 

To promote marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy research and 

development, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 

Mr. INSLEE (for himself, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, and Mr. DEUTCH) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, 

and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To promote marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy 

research and development, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Marine and Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion 

6 Act of 2011’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

8 this Act is as follows: 


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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy research and development 

program. 

Sec. 3. Test facilities. 

Sec. 4. National Marine and Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Centers. 

Sec. 5. Marine-based energy device verification program. 

Sec. 6. Adaptive management and environmental grant program. 

Sec. 7. Administration. 

Sec. 8. Authorization of appropriations. 

1 SEC. 2. MARINE AND HYDROKINETIC RENEWABLE ENERGY 

2 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. 

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

5 (1) in paragraph (13), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

6 inserting a semicolon; 

7 (2) in paragraph (14), by striking the period at 

8 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

9 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(15)(A) apply advanced systems engineering 

11 and system integration methods to identify critical 

12 interfaces and develop open standards for marine 

13 and hydrokinetic renewable energy; 

14 ‘‘(B) transfer the resulting environmental data 

15 to industry stakeholders as public information 

16 through published interface definitions, standards, 

17 and demonstration projects; and 

18 ‘‘(C) develop incentives for industry to comply 

19 with the standards.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. TEST FACILITIES. 

2 Section 633 of the Energy Independence and Security 

3 Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17212) is amended by adding at 

4 the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(c) TEST FACILITIES.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this sec7 tion, not later than 180 days after the date of enact8 ment of this subsection, the Secretary shall award 

9 competitive grants to support 4 or more geographi10 cally dispersed marine and hydrokinetic renewable 

11 energy technology research, development, and dem12 onstration test facilities for the demonstration of 

13 multiple technologies in actual operating marine en14 vironments (including industry demonstrations). 

15 ‘‘(2) PREFERENCE.—In awarding competitive 

16 grants under this subsection, the Secretary shall give 

17 preference to existing marine and hydrokinetic test18 ing facilities and existing Centers established under 

19 section 634. 

20 ‘‘(3) FACILITIES.—Grants under this subsection 

21 may support— 

22 ‘‘(A) modification of an existing facility 

23 (including a Center established under section 

24 634); or 

25 ‘‘(B) construction of a new test facility. 


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1 ‘‘(4) PROGRAM OBJECTIVES.—In awarding 

2 grants under this subsection, the Secretary shall 

3 provide for the demonstration of— 

4 ‘‘(A) a variety of technologies at each test 

5 facility; 

6 ‘‘(B) a variety of technologies among all of 

7 the test facilities established; and 

8 ‘‘(C) technologies on a variety of scales. 

9 ‘‘(5) ACTIVITIES.—Each test facility established 

10 under this subsection shall— 

11 ‘‘(A) provide infrastructure and resources 

12 for the evaluation and technical viability testing 

13 of marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy 

14 technologies; and 

15 ‘‘(B) conduct and support research, devel16 opment, and demonstration activities with re17 spect to marine and hydrokinetic renewable en18 ergy technologies. 

19 ‘‘(6) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for a grant 

20 under this subsection, an applicant for a grant 

21 shall— 

22 ‘‘(A) be— 

23 ‘‘(i) a nonprofit institution; 

24 ‘‘(ii) a State or local government; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) an institution of higher edu2 cation; 

3 ‘‘(iv) university consortia; 

4 ‘‘(v) a National Laboratory; or 

5 ‘‘(vi) a Center established under sec6 tion 634; and 

7 ‘‘(B) demonstrate to the satisfaction of the 

8 Secretary the ability and intention to— 

9 ‘‘(i) combine expertise from relevant 

10 academic fields, including fields relating 

11 to— 

12 ‘‘(I) the environment; 

13 ‘‘(II) marine and riverine 

14 sciences; 

15 ‘‘(III) energy; 

16 ‘‘(IV) ocean engineering; and 

17 ‘‘(V) electrical, mechanical, and 

18 civil engineering; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) partner with other entities (in20 cluding industry) that have expertise in ad21 vancing marine and hydrokinetic renewable 

22 energy technologies.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. NATIONAL MARINE AND HYDROKINETIC RENEW2 ABLE ENERGY RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, 

3 AND DEMONSTRATION CENTERS. 

4 Section 634 of the Energy Independence and Security 

5 Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17213) is amended— 

6 (1) in the section heading, by inserting ‘‘AND

7 HYDROKINETIC’’ after ‘‘MARINE’’; 

8 (2) in the first sentence of subsection (a), by in9 serting ‘‘and Hydrokinetic’’ after ‘‘Marine’’; and 

10 (3) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(b) PURPOSES.—The Centers— 

13 ‘‘(1) shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) advance research, development, dem15 onstration, and commercial application of ma16 rine and hydrokinetic renewable energy tech17 nologies; and 

18 ‘‘(B) serve as information clearinghouses 

19 for the marine and hydrokinetic renewable en20 ergy industry by collecting and disseminating 

21 information on best practices in all areas relat22 ing to developing and managing marine and 

23 hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies; and 

24 ‘‘(2) may serve as technology test facilities es25 tablished under section 633(c).’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. MARINE-BASED ENERGY DEVICE VERIFICATION 

2 PROGRAM. 

3 The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 

4 (42 U.S.C. 17211 et seq.) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating sections 635 and 636 (42 

6 U.S.C. 17214, 17215) as sections 638 and 639, re7 spectively; and 

8 (2) by inserting after section 634 (42 U.S.C. 

9 17213) the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 635. MARINE-BASED ENERGY DEVICE VERIFICATION 

11 PROGRAM. 

12 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab13 lish a marine-based energy device verification program to 

14 provide a bridge from the marine and hydrokinetic renew15 able energy capture device design and development efforts 

16 underway across the industry to commercial deployment 

17 of marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy devices. 

18 ‘‘(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the program are 

19 to fund, facilitate the development and installation of, and 

20 evaluate marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy 

21 projects, in partnership with Federally Funded Research 

22 and Development Centers, and in conjunction with Cen23 ters established under section 634, universities and other 

24 institutions of higher education, private business entities, 

25 and other appropriate organizations, in order— 


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1 ‘‘(1) to increase marine and hydrokinetic renew2 able energy experience; and 

3 ‘‘(2) to build and operate enough candidate de4 vices to obtain statistically significant operating and 

5 maintenance data. 

6 ‘‘(c) OBJECTIVES.—The objectives of the program 

7 shall include— 

8 ‘‘(1) verifying the performance, reliability, 

9 maintainability, and cost of new marine and 

10 hydrokinetic renewable energy device designs and 

11 system components in an operating environment; 

12 ‘‘(2) providing States, regulators, utilities, and 

13 other stakeholders with a valid opportunity to test 

14 and evaluate marine and hydrokinetic renewable en15 ergy technology in new areas; 

16 ‘‘(3) documenting and communicating the expe17 rience from those projects for the benefit of utilities, 

18 independent power producers, other nonutility gen19 erators, device suppliers, and others in the marine 

20 and hydrokinetic renewable energy development com21 munity; and 

22 ‘‘(4) resolving environmental issues through ro23 bust characterization, reliable impact prediction, ef24 fective monitoring, development, and use of adaptive 


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1 management, and informing engineering design to 

2 improve environmental performance.’’. 

3 SEC. 6. ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL 

4 GRANT PROGRAM. 

5 The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 

6 (42 U.S.C. 17211 et seq.) (as amended by section 5) is 

7 amended by inserting after section 635 the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 636. ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL 

9 GRANT PROGRAM. 

10 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

11 ‘‘(1) the use of marine and hydrokinetic renew12 able energy technologies can reduce contributions to 

13 global warming; 

14 ‘‘(2) marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy 

15 technologies can be produced domestically; 

16 ‘‘(3) marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy 

17 is a nascent industry; and 

18 ‘‘(4) the United States must work to promote 

19 new renewable energy technologies that reduce con20 tributions to global warming gases and improve do21 mestic energy production. 

22 ‘‘(b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable 

24 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 


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1 Secretary shall establish a program under which the 

2 Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities— 

3 ‘‘(A) to advance the development of marine 

4 and hydrokinetic renewable energy; 

5 ‘‘(B) to help fund the costs of environ6 mental analysis affecting the deployment of ma7 rine hydrokinetic devices; 

8 ‘‘(C) to help enable the eligible entities— 

9 ‘‘(i) to gather and collect the types of 

10 environmental data that are required when 

11 working in a public resource (including the 

12 waterways and oceans of the United 

13 States); and 

14 ‘‘(ii) to monitor the impacts of dem15 onstration projects and make the resulting 

16 information available for widespread dis17 semination to aid future projects; and 

18 ‘‘(D) to help fund the cost of advancing re19 newable marine and hydrokinetic technologies 

20 in ocean and riverine environments from dem21 onstration projects to development and deploy22 ment. 

23 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

24 grant under this paragraph, an entity shall submit 

25 to the Secretary an application at such time, in such 


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1 manner, and containing such information as the Sec2 retary may require.’’. 

3 SEC. 7. ADMINISTRATION. 

4 The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 

5 (42 U.S.C. 17211 et seq.) (as amended by section 6) is 

6 amended by inserting after section 636 the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 637. ADMINISTRATION. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this subtitle, the 

9 Secretary shall— 

10 ‘‘(1) coordinate and avoid duplication of activi11 ties across programs of the Department and other 

12 applicable Federal agencies, including the National 

13 Laboratories; 

14 ‘‘(2) collaborate with (as applicable)— 

15 ‘‘(A) industry; 

16 ‘‘(B) stakeholders; 

17 ‘‘(C) other Federal agencies, including the 

18 National Laboratories; 

19 ‘‘(D) academic institutions; and 

20 ‘‘(E) international bodies with relevant sci21 entific expertise; and 

22 ‘‘(3) obtain from the recipient of assistance and 

23 make available to the public, through Web sites, re24 ports, and databases of the Department, any re25 search, development, demonstration, and commercial 


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1 application information produced with respect to 

2 supported technology, including information obtained 

3 after the completion of supported activities, except 

4 to the extent that the information is protected from 

5 disclosure under section 552(b) of title 5, United 

6 States Code. 

7 ‘‘(b) REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

8 of enactment of this section and at least once every 2 years 

9 thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 

10 on findings and activities conducted under this subtitle.’’. 

11 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

12 Section 639 of the Energy Independence and Security 

13 Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17215) (as redesignated by section 

14 5(1)) is amended to read as follows: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 639. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro17 priated to carry out this subtitle, to remain available until 

18 expended— 

19 ‘‘(1) $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2012; and 

20 ‘‘(2) $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2013. 

21 ‘‘(b) RENEWABLE ENERGY FUNDS.—No funds shall 

22 be appropriated under this section for activities that are 

23 receiving funds under section 931(a)(2)(E)(i) of the En24 ergy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16231(a)(2)(E)(i)).’’. 

Æ 


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