[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2890 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2890

     To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a photovoltaic 
             demonstration program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 27, 2007

Mr. Smith of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                the Committee on Science and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a photovoltaic 
             demonstration program, 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 ``Solar Utilization Now Demonstration 
Act of 2007'' or the ``SUN Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. PHOTOVOLTAIC DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish a program of grants 
to States to demonstrate advanced photovoltaic technology.
    (b) Requirements.--
            (1) Ability to meet requirements.--To receive funding under 
        the program under this section, a State must submit a proposal 
        that demonstrates, to the satisfaction of the Secretary, that 
        the State will meet the requirements of subsection (f).
            (2) Compliance with requirements.--If a State has received 
        funding under this section for the preceding year, the State 
        must demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the Secretary, that it 
        complied with the requirements of subsection (f) in carrying 
        out the program during that preceding year, and that it will do 
        so in the future, before it can receive further funding under 
        this section.
            (3) Funding allocation.--Each State submitting a qualifying 
        proposal shall receive funding under the program based on the 
        proportion of United States population in the State according 
        to the 2000 census. In each fiscal year, the portion of funds 
        attributable under this paragraph to States that have not 
        submitted qualifying proposals in the time and manner specified 
        by the Secretary shall be distributed pro rata to the States 
        that have submitted qualifying proposals in the specified time 
        and manner.
    (c) Competition.--If more than $25,000,000 is available for the 
program under this section for any fiscal year, the Secretary shall 
allocate 75 percent of the total amount of funds available according to 
subsection (b)(3), and shall award the remaining 25 percent on a 
competitive basis to the States with the proposals the Secretary 
considers most likely to encourage the widespread adoption of 
photovoltaic technologies.
    (d) Proposals.--Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and in each subsequent fiscal year for the life of the 
program, the Secretary shall solicit proposals from the States to 
participate in the program under this section.
    (e) Competitive Criteria.--In awarding funds in a competitive 
allocation under subsection (c), the Secretary shall consider--
            (1) the likelihood of a proposal to encourage the 
        demonstration of, or lower the costs of, advanced photovoltaic 
        technologies; and
            (2) the extent to which a proposal is likely to--
                    (A) maximize the amount of photovoltaics 
                demonstrated;
                    (B) maximize the proportion of non-Federal cost 
                share; and
                    (C) limit State administrative costs.
    (f) State Program.--A program operated by a State with funding 
under this section shall provide competitive awards for the 
demonstration of advanced photo-voltaic technologies. Each State 
program shall--
            (1) require a contribution of at least 60 percent per award 
        from non-Federal sources, which may include any combination of 
        State, local, and private funds, except that at least 10 
        percent of the funding must be supplied by the State;
            (2) endeavor to fund recipients in the commercial, 
        industrial, institutional, governmental, and residential 
        sectors;
            (3) limit State administrative costs to no more than 10 
        percent of the grant;
            (4) report annually to the Secretary on--
                    (A) the amount of funds disbursed;
                    (B) the amount of photovoltaics purchased; and
                    (C) the results of the monitoring under paragraph 
                (5);
            (5) provide for measurement and verification of the output 
        of a representative sample of the photovoltaics systems 
        demonstrated throughout the average working life of the 
        systems, or at least 20 years; and
            (6) require that applicant buildings must have received an 
        independent energy efficiency audit during the 6-month period 
        preceding the filing of the application.
    (g) Unexpended Funds.--If a State fails to expend any funds 
received under subsection (b) or (c) within 3 years of receipt, such 
remaining funds shall be returned to the Treasury.
    (h) Reports.--The Secretary shall report to Congress 5 years after 
funds are first distributed to the States under this section--
            (1) the amount of photovoltaics demonstrated;
            (2) the number of projects undertaken;
            (3) the administrative costs of the program;
            (4) the amount of funds that each State has not received 
        because of a failure to submit a qualifying proposal, as 
        described in subsection (b)(3);
            (5) the results of the monitoring under subsection (f)(5); 
        and
            (6) the total amount of funds distributed, including a 
        breakdown by State.
    (i) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary for the purposes of carrying out this 
section--
            (1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2008;
            (2) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2009;
            (3) $45,000,000 for fiscal year 2010;
            (4) $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; and
            (5) $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2012.
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