Title: American Energy Opportunity Act of 2019
Policy area: Energy

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 voluntary 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.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2447 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2447

   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 process for local permitting of 
  distributed renewable energy, energy storage, and electric vehicle 
               charging systems, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 9, 2019

  Mr. Heinrich (for himself and Ms. Collins) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   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 process for local permitting of 
  distributed renewable energy, energy storage, and electric vehicle 
               charging systems, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``American Energy Opportunity Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Authority having jurisdiction.--The term ``authority 
        having jurisdiction'' means any State, county, local, or Tribal 
        office or official with 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'' means the Distributed Energy 
        Opportunity Board established or designated under section 3(a).
            (3) Distributed energy system installer.--The term 
        ``distributed energy system installer'' means an entity or 
        individual--
                    (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'' means any equipment or 
        materials installed in, on, or near a residential, commercial, 
        or industrial building to support onsite or local energy use, 
        including--
                    (A) to generate electricity from distributed 
                renewable energy sources, including from--
                            (i) solar photovoltaic modules or similar 
                        solar energy technologies; and
                            (ii) wind power 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; or
                    (D) to refuel a fuel cell electric vehicle.
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.

SEC. 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'', to carry out a voluntary program to streamline the 
process for local permitting and inspection of qualifying distributed 
energy systems.
    (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; and
            (7) other codes and standards organizations.
    (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) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986, and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of that 
Code.
    (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.

SEC. 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'' 
if that State, local community, or Tribe has adopted and implemented 
the model expedited permit-to-build protocol established by the Board.
    (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.

SEC. 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 2019 through 2024.
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