American Energy Opportunity Act of 2019

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 processes for local permitting of distributed renewable energy, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging systems, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the American Energy Opportunity Act of 2019 2. Definitions In this Act: (1) Authority having jurisdiction The term authority having jurisdiction (A) to issue permits; (B) to conduct inspections to enforce the requirements of a relevant code or standard; or (C) to approve the installation of, or the equipment and materials used in the installation of, qualifying distributed energy systems. (2) Board The term Board (3) Distributed energy system installer The term distributed energy system installer (A) with knowledge and skills relating to— (i) the construction and operation of the equipment used in qualifying distributed energy systems; and (ii) the installation of qualifying distributed energy systems; and (B) that has employed safety training to recognize and avoid the hazards involved in constructing, operating, and installing qualifying distributed energy systems. (4) Qualifying distributed energy system The term qualifying distributed energy system (A) to generate electricity from distributed renewable energy sources, including from— (i) solar photovoltaic modules or similar solar energy technologies; (ii) wind power systems; and (iii) hydrogen electrolysis and fuel cell systems; (B) to store and discharge electricity from batteries with a capacity of at least 2 kilowatt hours; (C) to charge a plug-in electric drive vehicle at a power rate of at least 2 kilowatts; (D) to refuel a fuel cell electric vehicle; or (E) to store and discharge electricity from fuel cell systems with a capacity of at least 2 kilowatt hours. (5) Secretary The term Secretary 3. Establishment or designation of the Distributed Energy Opportunity Board (a) In general Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with trade associations and other entities representing distributed energy system installers and organizations representing State, local, and Tribal governments engaged in permitting, shall establish or designate a nonprofit corporation, to be known as the Distributed Energy Opportunity Board (b) Composition The Board shall include representatives from— (1) relevant Federal agencies, or organizations that represent those agencies; (2) State, local, and Tribal governments, or organizations that represent those governments; (3) distributed energy generation companies; (4) battery storage companies; (5) associations that represent the distributed energy generation and battery storage industry; (6) building code agencies and organizations, including a model energy code-setting organization; (7) other codes and standards organizations; and (8) fuel cell system companies. (c) Purpose and activities of the Board (1) Purpose The purpose of the Board is to establish a voluntary program for facilitating— (A) streamlined permitting processes of qualifying distributed energy systems; and (B) certification of distributed energy system installers. (2) Activities The Board shall— (A) develop and maintain a streamlined permitting process, such as a national online permitting system and technology platform for expediting, standardizing, and streamlining permitting, that authorities having jurisdiction may use, at the discretion of those authorities, to receive, review, and approve permit applications relating to qualifying distributed energy systems; (B) establish a model expedited permit-to-build protocol for qualifying distributed energy systems; (C) provide technical assistance to authorities having jurisdiction on using and adopting— (i) the streamlined permitting process described in subparagraph (A); and (ii) the model expedited permit-to-build protocol described in subparagraph (B); (D) (i) investigate the development of voluntary national certifications for distributed energy system installers and qualifying distributed energy systems; and (ii) if the Board determines that the national certifications would expedite and streamline the permitting and inspection process, develop the voluntary national certifications; (E) develop and maintain a voluntary national inspection protocol integrated with the national online permitting system described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) and related tools to expedite, standardize, and streamline the inspection of qualifying distributed energy systems, including— (i) by investigating the potential for using remote inspections; and (ii) by investigating the potential for sample-based inspection for distributed energy system installers with a demonstrated track record of high-quality work; and (F) take any other action to expedite, standardize, streamline, or improve the process for permitting, inspecting, or interconnecting qualifying distributed energy systems. (d) Fee authority The Board may assess fees for the provision of services by the Board in amounts determined reasonable and appropriate by the Board, including fees from participating distributed energy system installers relating to the activities of the Board described in subsection (c)(2). (e) Nonprofit status The Board shall be considered to be an organization described in section 501(c)(3) (f) Support services The Secretary shall— (1) provide technical assistance to the Board in carrying out the activities described in subsection (c)(2); and (2) provide such financial assistance to the Board as the Secretary determines to be appropriate from any funds appropriated to carry out this Act. 4. Distributed Energy Opportunity Communities (a) In general The Secretary shall recognize and certify certain communities as Distributed Energy Opportunity Communities (b) Qualifications The Secretary may certify a State, local community, or Tribe as a Distributed Energy Opportunity Community (c) Process The Secretary may confer a certification under subsection (a) through existing programs of the Department of Energy. (d) Grants The Secretary may award competitive grants, using funds appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this Act, to encourage communities to adopt the model expedited permit-to-build protocol and standardized inspection processes established by the Board. 5. Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this Act $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2025.

Summary: American Energy Opportunity Act of 2019 This bill establishes a process for expediting and standardizing the permitting process for certain distributed energy systems. The bill defines such systems as equipment or materials installed in, on, or near a building to support onsite or local energy use, such as solar energy, batteries, and charging systems for electrical vehicles. Specifically, the Department of Energy (DOE) must establish or designate a Distributed Energy Opportunity Board to carry out a program to (1) expedite the process for local permitting and inspection of qualifying distributed energy systems, and (2) facilitate the certification of distributed energy system installers. In addition, DOE must recognize and certify communities as Distributed Energy Opportunity Communities if they adopt and implement a permit-to-build protocol that is established by the board. DOE may award grants to encourage communities to adopt the protocol and standardized inspection processes established by the board.