I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2885 

To require the Secretary of Energy to establish an electric grid resilience 

grant program and an electric grid resilience research and development 

program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 28, 2021 

Ms. JOHNSON of Texas (for herself, Mr. BRADY, Mr. BURGESS, Ms. MATSUI, 

Mr. HUFFMAN, and Mr. LAMALFA) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition 

to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 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 require the Secretary of Energy to establish an electric 

grid resilience grant program and an electric grid resilience research and development program. 

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 ‘‘Preventing Outages 

5 With Enhanced Resilience and Operations Nationwide Act 

6 of 2021’’ or the ‘‘POWER ON Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ELECTRIC GRID RESILIENCE GRANTS. 

2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

3 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti4 ty’’ means— 

5 (A) an electric grid operator; 

6 (B) an electricity generator; 

7 (C) a transmission owner or operator; 

8 (D) a distribution provider; 

9 (E) a fuel supplier; and 

10 (F) any other relevant entity, as deter11 mined by the Secretary. 

12 (2) EXTREME WEATHER.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘extreme 

14 weather’’ means a weather phenomenon that— 

15 (i) occurs outside of the historical fre16 quency prior to 1990; or 

17 (ii) is unexpected, unusual, severe, or 

18 unseasonal. 

19 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘extreme 

20 weather’’ includes— 

21 (i) a tornado; 

22 (ii) a thunderstorm; 

23 (iii) an ice storm; 

24 (iv) a heat wave; 

25 (v) flooding; 

26 (vi) drought; 


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1 (vii) high winds; and 

2 (viii) mudslides. 

3 (3) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 

4 has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 

5 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

6 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 

7 (4) RESILIENCE EVENT.—The term ‘‘resilience 

8 event’’ means an event in which, due to extreme 

9 weather, a wildfire, or any other natural disaster, 

10 operations of the electric grid are disrupted, preven11 tively shut off, or cannot operate safely. 

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

13 the Secretary of Energy. 

14 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 

15 (A) a State; 

16 (B) the District of Columbia; and 

17 (C) any territory of the United States. 

18 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

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

20 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec21 retary shall establish an electric grid resilience pro22 gram under which the Secretary shall provide grants 

23 to States and Indian Tribes to award grants to eligi24 ble entities to carry out projects that enhance the 

25 physical resilience of the electric grid. 


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1 (2) ANNUAL APPLICATION.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive 

3 a grant under this subsection for a fiscal year, 

4 a State or Indian Tribe shall submit to the Sec5 retary an application for that fiscal year that 

6 describes the criteria and methods that will be 

7 used by the State or Indian Tribe to award 

8 electric grid resilience grants to eligible entities. 

9 (B) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary shall 

10 use amounts appropriated under subsection (f) 

11 for a fiscal year to provide grants under this 

12 subsection only to States and Indian Tribes 

13 that have submitted an application under sub14 paragraph (A) for that fiscal year. 

15 (3) DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

17 provide grants to States and Indian Tribes 

18 under this subsection based on a formula deter19 mined by the Secretary, in accordance with sub20 paragraph (B). 

21 (B) REQUIREMENT.—The formula referred 

22 to in subparagraph (A) shall be based on the 

23 following factors: 

24 (i) The total population of the State 

25 or Indian Tribe. 


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1 (ii) The probability of resilience events 

2 in the State or on the land of the Indian 

3 Tribe during the previous 10 years, as de4 termined based on the number of federally 

5 declared disasters or emergencies in the 

6 State or on the land of the Indian Tribe, 

7 as applicable, including— 

8 (I) disasters for which Fire Man9 agement Assistance Grants are pro10 vided under section 420 of the Robert 

11 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer12 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

13 5187); 

14 (II) major disasters declared by 

15 the President under section 401 of 

16 that Act (42 U.S.C. 5170); 

17 (III) emergencies declared by the 

18 President under section 501 of that 

19 Act (42 U.S.C. 5191); and 

20 (IV) any other federally declared 

21 disaster or emergency in the State or 

22 on the land of the Indian Tribe. 

23 (iii) The number and severity, meas24 ured by population and economic impacts, 

25 of resilience events experienced by the 


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1 State or Indian Tribe on or after January 

2 1, 2011. 

3 (iv) The total amount, on a per capita 

4 basis, of public and private expenditures 

5 during the previous 10 years to carry out 

6 mitigation efforts to reduce the likelihood 

7 and consequences of resilience events in 

8 the State or on the land of the Indian 

9 Tribe, with States or Indian Tribes with 

10 higher per capita expenditures receiving 

11 additional weight or consideration as com12 pared to States or Indian Tribes with 

13 lower per capita expenditures. 

14 (4) ANNUAL UPDATE OF DATA USED IN DIS15 TRIBUTION OF FUNDS.—Beginning 1 year after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

17 annually update— 

18 (A) all data relating to the factors de19 scribed in paragraph (3)(B); and 

20 (B) all other data used in distributing 

21 grants to States and Indian Tribes under this 

22 subsection. 

23 (5) MATCHING FUNDS.—A State or Indian 

24 Tribe that receives a grant under this subsection 


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1 shall be required to match not less than 15 percent 

2 of the amount of the grant. 

3 (6) PLAN REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall en4 sure that each grant provided to a State or Indian 

5 Tribe under this subsection will— 

6 (A) be allocated in accordance with a pub7 lished State or Indian Tribe plan that— 

8 (i) is adopted by the State or Indian 

9 Tribe after notice and a public hearing; 

10 and 

11 (ii) describes the proposed funding 

12 distributions and recipients of the electric 

13 grid resilience grants to be provided by the 

14 State or Indian Tribe; and 

15 (B) be allocated, pursuant to the applicable 

16 State or Indian Tribe plan, to eligible entities 

17 for projects within the State or on the land of 

18 the Indian Tribe, as applicable. 

19 (7) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Of any amounts made 

21 available to the Secretary to carry out the pro22 gram established under paragraph (1) for a fis23 cal year, the Secretary may use not more than 

24 10 percent for the administrative expenses of 

25 carrying out that program. 


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1 (B) GRANT AMOUNTS.—Not more than 10 

2 percent of the amount of a grant provided by 

3 the Secretary to a State or Indian Tribe under 

4 this subsection may be used for administrative 

5 expenses. 

6 (c) USE OF GRANTS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—A grant awarded to an eligi8 ble entity under the electric grid resilience program 

9 established under subsection (b)(1) may be used for 

10 activities, technologies, equipment, and hardening 

11 measures to enable the electric grid to better with12 stand the effects of extreme weather, a wildfire, or 

13 any other natural disaster, including— 

14 (A) weatherization technologies and equip15 ment; 

16 (B) fire-resistant technologies and fire pre17 vention systems; 

18 (C) monitoring technologies; 

19 (D) the undergrounding of electrical equip20 ment; 

21 (E) utility pole management; 

22 (F) the relocation of power lines; 

23 (G) vegetation and fuel-load management; 

24 (H) the use or construction of distributed 

25 energy resources for enhancing system adaptive 


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1 capacity during extreme weather events, includ2 ing— 

3 (i) microgrids; and 

4 (ii) battery-storage subcomponents; 

5 (I) adaptive protection technologies; and 

6 (J) advanced modeling technologies. 

7 (2) PROHIBITED USES.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—A grant awarded to an 

9 eligible entity under the electric grid resilience 

10 program established under subsection (b)(1) 

11 may not be used for— 

12 (i) construction of a new— 

13 (I) electric generating facility; or 

14 (II) large-scale battery-storage 

15 facility that is not used for enhancing 

16 system adaptive capacity during ex17 treme weather events; or 

18 (ii) cybersecurity. 

19 (B) CERTAIN INVESTMENTS ELIGIBLE FOR

20 RECOVERY.— 

21 (i) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity 

22 may not seek cost recovery for the portion 

23 of the cost of any system, technology, or 

24 equipment that is funded through a grant 

25 awarded under the electric grid resilience 


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1 program established under subsection 

2 (b)(1). 

3 (ii) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in 

4 this subparagraph prohibits an eligible en5 tity from recovering through traditional or 

6 incentive-based ratemaking any portion of 

7 an investment in a system, technology, or 

8 equipment that is not funded by a grant 

9 awarded under the electric grid resilience 

10 program established under subsection 

11 (b)(1). 

12 (d) EVALUATION OF FUNDED PROJECTS.—The Sec13 retary shall carry out periodic evaluations of— 

14 (1) the electric grid resilience program estab15 lished under subsection (b)(1); and 

16 (2) the projects carried out by eligible entities 

17 receiving grants under that program. 

18 (e) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

20 the date of enactment of this Act, and annually 

21 thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a 

22 report describing the electric grid resilience program 

23 established under subsection (b)(1), including the re24 sults of the periodic evaluations carried out under 

25 subsection (d). 


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1 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The report under para2 graph (1) shall include information and data pro3 vided by each State or Indian Tribe receiving a 

4 grant from the Secretary under subsection (b) on— 

5 (A) the costs of the projects for which 

6 grants are awarded to eligible entities by States 

7 or Indian Tribes under that subsection; and 

8 (B) the types of activities, technologies, 

9 equipment, and hardening measures funded by 

10 those grants. 

11 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

12 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

13 out this section $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 

14 through 2026. 

15 SEC. 3. ELECTRIC GRID RESILIENCE RESEARCH AND DE16 VELOPMENT. 

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

18 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy 

19 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall estab20 lish a research, development, demonstration, and commer21 cial application program to enhance resilience and 

22 strengthen emergency response and management of the 

23 electric grid. 

24 (b) GRANTS.—Under the program established under 

25 subsection (a), the Secretary shall award competitive 


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1 grants to eligible entities described in subsection (c) to 

2 conduct research, development, demonstration, and com3 mercial application activities to improve the resilience of 

4 the electric grid by developing technologies and capabili5 ties to withstand and address the current and projected 

6 impact on electric grid infrastructure of— 

7 (1) extreme weather (as defined in section 

8 2(a)); 

9 (2) wildfires; and 

10 (3) other natural disasters. 

11 (c) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity eligible to re12 ceive a grant under subsection (b) is— 

13 (1) an institution of higher education, including 

14 a historically Black college or university and a mi15 nority-serving institution; 

16 (2) a nonprofit organization; 

17 (3) a National Laboratory; 

18 (4) a unit of State, local, or Tribal government; 

19 (5) an electric utility or electric cooperative; 

20 (6) a retail service provider of electricity; 

21 (7) a private commercial entity; 

22 (8) a partnership or consortium of 2 or more 

23 entities described in any of paragraphs (1) through 

24 (7); and 


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1 (9) any other entity the Secretary determines to 

2 be appropriate. 

Æ 


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