1.Short title; table of
contents
(a)This Act may be cited
as the Marine and Hydrokinetic
Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2011
.
(b)The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy research and
development program.
Sec. 3. Test facilities.
Sec. 4. National Marine and Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy
Research, Development, and Demonstration Centers.
Sec. 5. Marine-based energy device verification
program.
Sec. 6. Adaptive management and environmental grant
program.
Sec. 7. Administration.
Sec. 8. Authorization of appropriations.
2.Marine and
hydrokinetic renewable energy research and development programSection 633(a) of the Energy Independence
and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17212(a)) is amended—
(1)in paragraph (13),
by striking ; and
and inserting a semicolon;
(2)in paragraph (14),
by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and
;
and
(3)by adding at the
end the following:
(15)(A)apply advanced systems
engineering and system integration methods to identify critical interfaces and
develop open standards for marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy;
(B)transfer the resulting environmental
data to industry stakeholders as public information through published interface
definitions, standards, and demonstration projects; and
(C)develop incentives for industry to
comply with the
standards.
.
3.Section 633 of the
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17212) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
(c)
(1)In carrying out this section, not later than 180 days
after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall award
competitive grants to support 4 or more geographically dispersed marine and
hydrokinetic renewable energy technology research, development, and
demonstration test facilities for the demonstration of multiple technologies in
actual operating marine environments (including industry
demonstrations).
(2)In
awarding competitive grants under this subsection, the Secretary shall give
preference to existing marine and hydrokinetic testing facilities and existing
Centers established under section 634.
(3)Grants
under this subsection may support—
(A)modification of an
existing facility (including a Center established under section 634); or
(B)construction of a
new test facility.
(4)In awarding grants under this subsection, the
Secretary shall provide for the demonstration of—
(A)a variety of
technologies at each test facility;
(B)a variety of
technologies among all of the test facilities established; and
(C)technologies on a
variety of scales.
(5)Each
test facility established under this subsection shall—
(A)provide
infrastructure and resources for the evaluation and technical viability testing
of marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies; and
(B)conduct and
support research, development, and demonstration activities with respect to
marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies.
(6)To
be eligible for a grant under this subsection, an applicant for a grant
shall—
(A)be—
(i)a
nonprofit institution;
(ii)a
State or local government;
(iii)an institution
of higher education;
(iv)university
consortia;
(v)a
National Laboratory; or
(vi)a
Center established under section 634; and
(B)demonstrate to the
satisfaction of the Secretary the ability and intention to—
(i)combine expertise
from relevant academic fields, including fields relating to—
(I)the
environment;
(II)marine and
riverine sciences;
(III)energy;
(IV)ocean
engineering; and
(V)electrical,
mechanical, and civil engineering; and
(ii)partner with
other entities (including industry) that have expertise in advancing marine and
hydrokinetic renewable energy
technologies.
.
4.National Marine
and Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration
CentersSection 634 of the
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17213) is
amended—
(1)in the section
heading, by inserting and
Hydrokinetic
after Marine
;
(2)in the first
sentence of subsection (a), by inserting and Hydrokinetic
after
Marine
; and
(3)by striking
subsection (b) and inserting the following:
(b)The
Centers—
(1)shall—
(A)advance research,
development, demonstration, and commercial application of marine and
hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies; and
(B)serve as
information clearinghouses for the marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy
industry by collecting and disseminating information on best practices in all
areas relating to developing and managing marine and hydrokinetic renewable
energy technologies; and
(2)may serve as
technology test facilities established under section
633(c).
.
5.Marine-based
energy device verification programThe Energy Independence and Security Act of
2007 (42 U.S.C. 17211 et seq.) is amended—
(1)by redesignating sections 635 and 636 (42
U.S.C. 17214, 17215) as sections 638 and 639, respectively; and
(2)by inserting after
section 634 (42 U.S.C. 17213) the following:
635.Marine-based
energy device verification program
(a)The Secretary shall establish a
marine-based energy device verification program to provide a bridge from the
marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy capture device design and development
efforts underway across the industry to commercial deployment of marine and
hydrokinetic renewable energy devices.
(b)The purposes of the program are to fund,
facilitate the development and installation of, and evaluate marine and
hydrokinetic renewable energy projects, in partnership with Federally Funded
Research and Development Centers, and in conjunction with Centers established
under section 634, universities and other institutions of higher education,
private business entities, and other appropriate organizations, in
order—
(1)to increase marine
and hydrokinetic renewable energy experience; and
(2)to build and
operate enough candidate devices to obtain statistically significant operating
and maintenance data.
(c)The objectives of the program shall
include—
(1)verifying the
performance, reliability, maintainability, and cost of new marine and
hydrokinetic renewable energy device designs and system components in an
operating environment;
(2)providing States,
regulators, utilities, and other stakeholders with a valid opportunity to test
and evaluate marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy technology in new
areas;
(3)documenting and
communicating the experience from those projects for the benefit of utilities,
independent power producers, other nonutility generators, device suppliers, and
others in the marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy development community;
and
(4)resolving
environmental issues through robust characterization, reliable impact
prediction, effective monitoring, development, and use of adaptive management,
and informing engineering design to improve environmental
performance.
.
6.Adaptive
management and environmental grant programThe Energy Independence and Security Act of
2007 (42 U.S.C. 17211 et seq.) (as amended by section 5) is amended by
inserting after section 635 the following:
636.Adaptive
management and environmental grant program
(a)Congress
finds that—
(1)the use of marine
and hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies can reduce contributions to
global warming;
(2)marine and
hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies can be produced domestically;
(3)marine and
hydrokinetic renewable energy is a nascent industry; and
(4)the United States
must work to promote new renewable energy technologies that reduce
contributions to global warming gases and improve domestic energy
production.
(b)
(1)As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of
this subsection, the Secretary shall establish a program under which the
Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities—
(A)to advance the
development of marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy;
(B)to help fund the
costs of environmental analysis affecting the deployment of marine hydrokinetic
devices;
(C)to help enable the
eligible entities—
(i)to
gather and collect the types of environmental data that are required when
working in a public resource (including the waterways and oceans of the United
States); and
(ii)to monitor the
impacts of demonstration projects and make the resulting information available
for widespread dissemination to aid future projects; and
(D)to help fund the
cost of advancing renewable marine and hydrokinetic technologies in ocean and
riverine environments from demonstration projects to development and
deployment.
(2)To
be eligible to receive a grant under this paragraph, an entity shall submit to
the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such
information as the Secretary may
require.
.
7.The Energy Independence and Security Act of
2007 (42 U.S.C. 17211 et seq.) (as amended by section 6) is amended by
inserting after section 636 the following:
637.
(a)In carrying out this subtitle, the Secretary
shall—
(1)coordinate and
avoid duplication of activities across programs of the Department and other
applicable Federal agencies, including the National Laboratories;
(2)collaborate with
(as applicable)—
(A)industry;
(B)stakeholders;
(C)other Federal
agencies, including the National Laboratories;
(D)academic
institutions; and
(E)international
bodies with relevant scientific expertise; and
(3)obtain from the
recipient of assistance and make available to the public, through Web sites,
reports, and databases of the Department, any research, development,
demonstration, and commercial application information produced with respect to
supported technology, including information obtained after the completion of
supported activities, except to the extent that the information is protected
from disclosure under section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code.
(b)Not
later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section and at least once
every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on
findings and activities conducted under this
subtitle.
.
8.Authorization of
appropriationsSection 639 of
the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17215) (as
redesignated by section 5(1)) is amended to read as follows:
639.Authorization
of appropriations
(a)There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this
subtitle, to remain available until expended—
(1)$70,000,000 for
fiscal year 2012; and
(2)$75,000,000 for
fiscal year 2013.
(b)No funds shall be appropriated under this section for
activities that are receiving funds under section 931(a)(2)(E)(i) of the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C.
16231(a)(2)(E)(i)).
.