[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1876 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1876

  To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to advance 
   energy storage deployment by reducing the cost of energy storage 
    through research, development, and demonstration, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 27, 2017

 Mr. Wyden (for himself, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. Reed) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                      Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to advance 
   energy storage deployment by reducing the cost of energy storage 
    through research, development, and demonstration, 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 ``Reducing the Cost of Energy Storage 
Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) DER.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``DER'' means an electric 
                device that can produce or consume energy that is 
                located--
                            (i) on the distribution system or any 
                        subsystem of the distribution system; or
                            (ii) behind a customer meter.
                    (B) Inclusions.--The term ``DER'' includes--
                            (i) an energy storage resource;
                            (ii) an energy generation technology;
                            (iii) a demand response resource;
                            (iv) an energy efficiency resource;
                            (v) an electric vehicle and associated 
                        supply equipment and systems; and
                            (vi) aggregations and integrated control 
                        systems, including virtual power plants, 
                        microgrids, and networks of microgrid cells.
            (2) Electric consumer; state regulatory authority.--The 
        terms ``electric consumer'' and ``State regulatory authority'' 
        have the meanings given the terms in section 3 of the Public 
        Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2602).
            (3) Energy storage.--The term ``energy storage'' means 
        equipment or facilities capable of absorbing energy, storing 
        energy for a period of time, and dispatching the stored energy, 
        that--
                    (A) uses mechanical, electrochemical, 
                hydroelectric, or thermal processes, as a single 
                facility or as an aggregation of units, throughout the 
                electric grid, including behind the meter to store 
                energy generated at 1 time for use at a later time;
                    (B) uses mechanical, electrochemical, 
                hydroelectric, or thermal processes, as a single 
                facility or as an aggregation of units, throughout the 
                electric grid, including behind the meter to store 
                energy generated from mechanical processes that would 
                otherwise be wasted for delivery at a later time; or
                    (C) stores thermal energy for direct use for 
                heating or cooling at a later time in a manner that 
                avoids the need to use electricity at that later time.
            (4) Light-duty consumer vehicle.--The term ``light-duty 
        consumer vehicle'' has the meaning given the term ``light-duty 
        vehicle'' in section 1037.801 of title 40, Code of Federal 
        Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of this 
        Act).
            (5) Microgrid.--The term ``microgrid'' means a localized 
        grid that can disconnect from the traditional grid to operate 
        autonomously and help mitigate grid disturbances to strengthen 
        grid resilience.
            (6) Program.--The term ``program'' means the energy storage 
        program established under section 3(a).
            (7) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.
            (8) State energy office.--The term ``State energy office'' 
        has the meaning given the term in section 124(a) of the Energy 
        Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15821(a)).
            (9) Transit vehicle.--The term ``transit vehicle'' has the 
        meaning given the term ``bus'' in section 1192.3 of title 36, 
        Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of 
        enactment of this Act).

SEC. 3. REDUCING THE COST OF ENERGY STORAGE.

    (a) Energy Storage Program.--
            (1) Establishment.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a cross-
        cutting national program within the Department of Energy to 
        advance energy storage deployment by reducing the cost of 
        energy storage through research, development, and 
        demonstration.
    (b) Goals.--In developing the program, the Secretary shall consider 
the goals of--
            (1)(A) reducing the full lifecycle cost and environmental 
        impact of energy storage technologies, services, and 
        applications, with an emphasis on reducing costs associated 
        with combining energy storage with intermittent renewable 
        energy generation; and
            (B) increasing the cost-competitiveness of energy storage 
        technologies, services, and applications, including--
                    (i) the costs of subsystem components, 
                installation, and integration; and
                    (ii) the costs associated with the application of 
                energy storage technologies within integrated control 
                systems;
            (2) facilitating innovation in the manner in which energy 
        storage systems are conceived, designed, manufactured, 
        installed, and used for various energy services;
            (3) improving the understanding of the economics and 
        technical characteristics of new electric grid operating 
        principles enabled by energy storage, including by considering 
        regional characteristics;
            (4)(A) identifying the various use cases that are possible 
        with energy storage (including individual technology 
        applications, combination technology applications, and 
        integrated control system applications); and
            (B) quantifying, demonstrating, and maximizing--
                    (i) the value of energy storage in the various use 
                cases identified under subparagraph (A); and
                    (ii) the energy storage services that could be 
                provided in those various use cases--
                            (I) individually; and
                            (II) in multiple or stacked services, 
                        including the generation of multiple value 
                        streams from integrated control systems, such 
                        as microgrids;
            (5) identifying, addressing, and reducing market barriers 
        that limit energy storage adoption, including by--
                    (A) identifying wholesale and retail market 
                barriers;
                    (B) helping to streamline processes--
                            (i) to reduce the time required for project 
                        completion; and
                            (ii) to lower interconnection costs; and
                    (C) facilitating increased deployment of energy 
                storage across sectors, including facilitating--
                            (i) the deployment of residential, 
                        commercial, and industrial applications; and
                            (ii) the deployment to low-income 
                        individuals and communities;
            (6) advancing and validating the safety, reliability, and 
        performance of energy storage, including by--
                    (A) establishing procedures for evaluating, 
                verifying, and reporting the performance of energy 
                storage technologies, including the operational safety 
                and usable life of energy storage technologies; and
                    (B) refining existing or developing new industry-
                accepted codes, standards, and testing procedures to 
                specify desired performance parameters for energy 
                storage services;
            (7) mapping pathways for energy storage deployment that 
        increase the reliability, efficiency, security, and resilience 
        of the electricity system, including by--
                    (A) increasing the understanding of trends in 
                electricity system inertia; and
                    (B) assessing the ability of energy storage to 
                provide the technical services needed for management of 
                electricity system inertia;
            (8) optimizing energy storage deployment--
                    (A) to increase the deployment of variable 
                renewable energy-generation technology and electric 
                transportation; and
                    (B) to support the optimal use of distributed and 
                grid scale energy resources, including assessing the 
                use of energy storage technologies to manage and 
                optimize DERs--
                            (i) at different levels of market 
                        penetration; or
                            (ii) within integrated control systems or 
                        energy management systems, at different scales;
            (9) advancing analytical resources to employ storage 
        technology effectively and profitably, including by--
                    (A) using existing integrated resource planning, 
                transmission, and distribution design tools and other 
                resources to build staff capacity for State regulatory 
                authorities, State energy offices, electric utilities, 
                balancing authorities, and Federal power marketing 
                administrations to assist in reducing the uncertainty 
                and risks relating to energy storage deployment;
                    (B) developing techniques for conducting energy 
                storage business case analyses; and
                    (C) developing end-state modeling of least-cost 
                solutions in scenarios in which--
                            (i) energy storage is deployed; and
                            (ii) 90 to 100 percent of electricity is 
                        produced by renewable generation resources;
            (10) spurring an increase in the number of energy storage 
        technologies that are manufactured cost-competitively in the 
        United States--
                    (A) through public-private partnerships; and
                    (B) by reducing investment risk;
            (11) identifying--
                    (A) critical and conflict materials issues relating 
                to energy storage technologies; and
                    (B) innovative, low-impact, and cost-competitive 
                methods for procuring energy storage materials that 
                address the conflict issues identified under 
                subparagraph (A), including--
                            (i) materials recycling programs, which may 
                        also have the effect of increasing the life of 
                        batteries; and
                            (ii) novel methods for obtaining lithium 
                        and other minerals domestically; and
            (12) enabling responsible lifecycle management of energy 
        storage technologies through--
                    (A) conducting research on responsible recycling of 
                advanced battery materials and chemistries;
                    (B) encouraging the sustainable design of new 
                energy storage technologies; and
                    (C) investigating end-of-life and second-life 
                applications for advanced batteries.
    (c) Priority.--In developing the program, the Secretary shall pay 
special attention to energy storage needs and opportunities that are 
relatively underdeveloped and potentially transformative for the 
electric grid.
    (d) Subprograms.--The program shall be comprised of not fewer than 
4 subprograms, including--
            (1) a large-scale energy storage subprogram with emphasis 
        on large-scale energy storage systems, including--
                    (A) electrochemical storage;
                    (B) pumped hydroelectric storage;
                    (C) mechanical storage;
                    (D) thermal storage;
                    (E) compression storage; and
                    (F) other technologies, as determined by the 
                Secretary;
            (2) a distributed storage subprogram that focuses on 
        distributed energy storage technologies and applications, 
        including existing assets and infrastructure, such as electric 
        hot water heaters and thermal storage for space heating and 
        cooling;
            (3) a transportation electrification subprogram that 
        focuses on storage for and within electric vehicles, 
        including--
                    (A) light-, medium-, and heavy-duty passenger, 
                utility, transit, and fleet vehicles;
                    (B) vehicle-grid integration, including vehicle-to-
                grid applications and time-varying pricing signals; and
                    (C) charging infrastructure and related networks 
                and systems; and
            (4) a responsible battery lifecycle management subprogram 
        that focuses on--
                    (A) recycling spent batteries, including all 
                chemistries of batteries; and
                    (B) designing new batteries for end-of-life 
                recycling.
    (e) Cost Target.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall develop cost targets 
        (including technology costs, installation costs, balance of 
        services costs, and soft costs) for energy storage across all 
        types of energy storage technology.
            (2) Target update; subtargets.--Not later than 5 years 
        after the date of enactment of this Act and every 5 years 
        thereafter, the Secretary shall--
                    (A) increase the rigor of cost targets based on--
                            (i) a technology-neutral approach that 
                        considers all types of--
                                    (I) energy storage;
                                    (II) application and sector-
                                specific use profiles; and
                                    (III) energy storage deployment 
                                scenarios, including individual 
                                technologies, technology combination 
                                use profiles, and integrated control 
                                system applications;
                            (ii) input from a variety of stakeholders, 
                        including the stakeholders described in 
                        subsection (i);
                            (iii) the inclusion and use of existing 
                        infrastructure; and
                            (iv) the ability to optimize the 
                        integration of intermittent renewable energy 
                        generation technology and DERs; and
                    (B) establish cost subtargets specific to 
                technologies and applications selected by the 
                Secretary, taking into consideration electricity market 
                prices and what is required to be cost-competitive in 
                specific markets for electric grid products and 
                services.
            (3) Default target.--During the period beginning on the 
        date of enactment of this Act and ending on the date on which 
        the Secretary first increases the rigor of cost targets under 
        paragraph (2), the default cost targets to be achieved by the 
        date that is 10 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 
        shall be an 80-percent reduction in the per kilowatt hour all-
        in installed cost of each energy storage technology class, as 
        determined under paragraph (4).
            (4) Energy storage technology classifications.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the 
                date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall, 
                based on input from the stakeholders described in 
                subsection (i), establish categories of energy storage 
                technologies for the purposes of--
                            (i) updating the cost targets under 
                        paragraph (2); and
                            (ii) assigning the default cost target 
                        under paragraph (3).
                    (B) Requirements.--At a minimum, the Secretary 
                shall establish the following energy storage technology 
                classes under subparagraph (A):
                            (i) Electrochemical storage.
                            (ii) Pumped hydroelectric storage.
                            (iii) Mechanical storage.
                            (iv) Thermal storage.
                            (v) Compression storage.
    (f) Scoping Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a 
        report that includes a scoping plan for the organization of the 
        program.
            (2) Preparation of report.--In preparing the report under 
        paragraph (1), the Secretary shall confer with, and seek advice 
        from, public and private stakeholders, such as the stakeholders 
        described in subsection (i).
    (g) Annual Report.--The Secretary shall submit to Congress an 
annual report that describes the progress of the program, including--
            (1) a detailed summary of--
                    (A) actions taken to address each goal listed in 
                subsection (b); and
                    (B) the outcomes of those actions;
            (2) the quantity of energy storage deployed;
            (3) the administrative costs of the program;
            (4) the total amount of program funds awarded, including a 
        description, by State, of the amount of funds awarded; and
            (5) a discussion of the efficacy of the program, including 
        discussion of the metrics described in subsection (h).
    (h) Metrics of Success.--The Secretary shall develop metrics for 
evaluating the performance of the program and the efficacy of the 
program in achieving the goals described in subsection (b).
    (i) Consultation.--In carrying out the activities under this 
section, the Secretary shall consult with stakeholders, including--
            (1) other Federal agencies, including the Federal Energy 
        Regulatory Commission;
            (2) the National Laboratories;
            (3) States;
            (4) tribal governments;
            (5) units of local government;
            (6) electric utilities, such as investor-owned electric 
        utilities, publicly owned electric utilities, and electric 
        cooperatives;
            (7) private companies, including energy technology 
        manufacturers;
            (8) third-party energy service providers;
            (9) institutions of higher education; and
            (10) nonprofit organizations.
    (j) Personal Protections for Sensitive Personal Data.--
            (1) Protecting privacy and security.--In carrying out this 
        section, the Secretary, the Administrator of the Energy 
        Information Administration, and the Secretary of Homeland 
        Security shall identify, incorporate, and follow best practices 
        for protecting the privacy of individuals and businesses and 
        the respective sensitive data of the individuals and 
        businesses, including by managing privacy risk and implementing 
        the Fair Information Practice Principles of the Federal Trade 
        Commission for the collection, use, disclosure, and retention 
        of individual electric consumer information in accordance with 
        the Office of Management and Budget Circular A-130 (or 
        successor circulars).
            (2) Personal protections for sensitive personal data.--
                    (A) In general.--No Federal entity shall request 
                the creation, recording, or collection of data 
                identified to an individual person as a result of the 
                program.
                    (B) Law enforcement requirements.--All law 
                enforcement agencies intending to request access to 
                data regarding electricity consumption or generation 
                shall be required--
                            (i) to produce a probable cause warrant as 
                        a requirement for gaining access to the data; 
                        and
                            (ii) to publicly report on the annual 
                        number of requests by that law enforcement 
                        agency for the data.
    (k) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section--
            (1) $225,000,000 for fiscal year 2018;
            (2) $275,000,000 for fiscal year 2019;
            (3) $325,000,000 for fiscal year 2020;
            (4) $400,000,000 for fiscal years 2021 through 2024;
            (5) $325,000,000 for fiscal year 2025;
            (6) $275,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; and
            (7) $225,000,000 for fiscal year 2027.
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