I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4393 
To advance the integration of clean distributed energy into electric grids, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 25, 2016 
Ms. CASTOR of Florida (for herself and Mr. HANNA) 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 com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To advance the integration of clean distributed energy into 
electric grids, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clean Distributed En-
ergy Grid Integration Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
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(1) research by the Secretary of Energy and the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency has found that clean distributed energy tech-
nologies can create important values for both the 
host facility and the electric grid operator; 
(2) the values described in paragraph (1) can 
include, for the host facility— 
(A) energy bill savings; 
(B) additional revenue from offering ancil-
lary services to the electric grid operator; 
(C) increased electric reliability in the 
event of grid outages; and 
(D) improved electric power quality; 
(3) the values described in paragraph (1) can 
include, for the electric grid operator— 
(A) avoiding the need for transmission and 
distribution upgrade investments; 
(B) enhanced grid stability by providing 
reactive power; 
(C) voltage and frequency stabilization; 
and 
(D) more reliable and stable operation of 
the grid by providing dispatchable energy to the 
grid during periods of insufficient capacity or 
supply; and 
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(4) new advances in intelligent sensing and sim-
ulation and control technologies offer the potential 
to enhance the benefits of clean distributed genera-
tion to both the host facility and the electric grid op-
erator from dynamic, adaptive, and anticipatory re-
sponse to changing grid conditions. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ANCILLARY SERVICE.—The term ‘‘ancillary 
service’’ means those services necessary to support 
the transmission of electric power from seller to pur-
chaser given the obligations of control areas and 
transmitting utilities within those control areas to 
maintain reliable operations of the interconnected 
transmission system. 
(2) CLEAN DISTRIBUTED ENERGY.—The term 
‘‘clean distributed energy’’ means energy tech-
nologies that are located on the customer site oper-
ating on the customer side of the electric meter and 
are interconnected with the electric grid. 
(3) COMBINED
HEAT
AND
POWER
TECH-
NOLOGY.—The term ‘‘combined heat and power 
technology’’ means the generation of electric energy 
and heat in a single, integrated system that meets 
the efficiency criteria in clauses (ii) and (iii) of sec-
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tion 48(c)(3)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986, under which heat that is conventionally re-
jected is recovered and used to meet thermal energy 
requirements. 
(4) ENERGY
STORAGE.—The term ‘‘energy 
storage’’ means technologies that store electric en-
ergy and are able to discharge on demand to meet 
customer or grid needs for electric energy. 
(5) FUEL CELL.—The term ‘‘fuel cell’’ means a 
device that produces electric energy directly from a 
chemical reaction. 
(6) GRID.—The term ‘‘grid’’ means the electric 
grid that is composed on both distribution and 
transmission lines, and associated facilities, includ-
ing substations, sensors, and operational controls. 
(7) INTELLIGENCE.—The term ‘‘intelligence’’ 
means any devices or technologies that manifest 
adaptive, anticipatory, and dynamic optimization be-
havior. 
(8) QUALIFIED WASTE HEAT RESOURCE.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘qualified 
waste heat resource’’ means— 
(i) exhaust heat or flared gas from 
any industrial process; 
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(ii) waste gas or industrial tail gas 
that would otherwise be flared, incinerated, 
or vented; 
(iii) a pressure drop in any gas for an 
industrial or commercial process; or 
(iv) any other form of waste heat re-
source, as determined by the Secretary. 
(B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘qualified 
waste heat resource’’ does not include a heat re-
source from a process the primary purpose of 
which is the generation of electricity using a 
fossil fuel. 
(9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Energy. 
(10) WASTE HEAT TO POWER TECHNOLOGY.— 
The term ‘‘waste heat to power technology’’ means 
a system that generates electricity through the re-
covery of a qualified waste heat resource. 
SEC. 4. RESEARCH AND DEPLOYMENT PLAN FOR EN-
HANCED INTEGRATION OF CLEAN DISTRIB-
UTED ENERGY WITH THE GRID. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out ef-
forts for advancing the integration of clean distributed en-
ergy into electric grids. 
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(b) STUDY AND REPORT ON THE STATUS OF GRID 
INTEGRATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the efforts 
under subsection (a) and not later than 180 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall conduct a study on the status of integra-
tion of clean distributed energy into the grid, identi-
fying any issues that require additional research or 
regulatory development. 
(2) INCLUSIONS.—In conducting the study 
under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 
(A) identify and quantify the benefits to all 
stakeholders of expanded integration of clean 
distributed energy resources into the grid; 
(B) identify any technical issues that re-
quire research to identify solutions; and 
(C) identify any regulatory barriers that 
inhibit the expanded integration of clean dis-
tributed energy resources into the grid. 
(3) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 
submit to Congress a report describing the results of 
the study conducted under paragraph (1). 
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(4) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall use unobli-
gated funds of the Department of Energy to carry 
out this subsection. 
(c) RESEARCH INTO THE TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO 
THE INTEGRATION
OF CLEAN DISTRIBUTED ENERGY 
WITH THE GRID.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall— 
(A) issue a solicitation for research pro-
posals to address the technical barriers identi-
fied in the report submitted under subsection 
(b)(3); and 
(B) make grants to those applicants with 
research proposals selected by the Secretary in 
accordance with paragraph (2). 
(2) CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall select re-
search proposals to receive a grant under this sub-
section on the basis of merit, using criteria identified 
by the Secretary, including the likelihood that the 
research results will address critical barriers identi-
fied by the Secretary. 
(3) FUNDING.—Beginning in the first full fiscal 
year following the date of enactment of this Act, and 
annually thereafter for 2 years, the Secretary may 
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request funding as necessary to carry out this sub-
section, but in no case shall funding exceed 
$5,000,000 in any 1 fiscal year. 
(d) CREATION
OF
A
STAKEHOLDER
WORKING 
GROUP.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall convene a working group (referred to in 
this subsection as the ‘‘Group’’) to address regu-
latory barriers to deployment of intelligent grid inte-
gration of clean distributed energy technologies. 
(2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Group is to 
provide guidance on how to address the technical, 
regulatory and economic factors that limit wide-
spread integration of grid-level clean distributed en-
ergy use in order to advance the integration of clean 
distributed energy into electric grids. 
(3) MEMBERSHIP.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Group shall be 
composed of representatives of all groups deter-
mined by the Secretary to have a material in-
terest in the development, implementation, 
siting, and integration of clean distributed en-
ergy technology or systems into the electric 
grid. 
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(B) CRITERIA.—Members shall be se-
lected— 
(i) from representatives that apply as 
a result of a public announcement from the 
Secretary; and 
(ii) by the Secretary based on quali-
fications and balance of interests rep-
resented by the selected individuals. 
(4) DUTIES.—The duties of the Group shall 
be— 
(A) to review the regulatory barriers iden-
tified in the report prepared by the Secretary 
under subsection (b)(3); 
(B) to identify any additional regulatory 
barriers that inhibit the installation of distrib-
uted energy; and 
(C) to recommend to the Secretary any ac-
tions that should be undertaken to remove these 
barriers. 
(5) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 
prepare and submit to Congress a report based on 
the recommendations of the Group under paragraph 
(4)(C), to be made publicly available. 
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(6) FUNDING.—The Secretary may request 
funding as necessary to carry out this subsection, 
but in no case shall funding exceed $2,000,000 in 
any 1 fiscal year. 
(e) DEMONSTRATIONS OF INTELLIGENT GRID INTE-
GRATION OF CLEAN DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEMS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Based on the findings in the 
reports conducted under this section and not later 
than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary shall issue a solicitation for dem-
onstration of integration of distributed energy re-
sources into the grid. 
(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Any individual entity 
or group of entities may submit to the Secretary 
proposals for demonstration projects based on the 
solicitation described in paragraph (1), including— 
(A) State and local agencies; 
(B) public institutions; 
(C) private companies; 
(D) electric utilities; and 
(E) equipment manufacturers. 
(3) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may 
make grants, in amounts not to exceed a total of 
$5,000,000, to eligible entities to carry out dem-
onstration projects, to be selected based on— 
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(A) the technical merits of the demonstra-
tion project; 
(B) the likelihood that the demonstration 
project will address critical barriers identified 
by the Secretary under this section; and 
(C) the share of non-Federal funds for the 
demonstration project. 
(4) FUNDING.—Beginning in the third full fis-
cal year following the date of enactment of this Act, 
and annually thereafter for 3 years, the Secretary 
may request funding as necessary to carry out this 
subsection, but in no case shall funding exceed 
$15,000,000 in any 1 fiscal year. 
(f) REPORT.—The Secretary annually shall submit to 
Congress a report that— 
(1) describes the progress made in carrying out 
this section; and 
(2) identifies any technical or regulatory issues 
that require legislative action. 
Æ 
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