[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1286 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1286

       To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to facilitate the 
   commercialization of energy and related technologies developed at 
  Department of Energy facilities with promising commercial potential.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 2, 2019

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
       To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to facilitate the 
   commercialization of energy and related technologies developed at 
  Department of Energy facilities with promising commercial potential.

    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 ``Energy Technology Maturation Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. ENERGY TECHNOLOGY MATURATION PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Title X of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
U.S.C. 16391 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 1012. ENERGY TECHNOLOGY MATURATION PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Department facility.--The term `Department facility' 
        includes--
                    ``(A) a National Laboratory;
                    ``(B) any plant or site of the Department (such as 
                the Kansas City National Security Campus, the Nevada 
                National Security Site, the Pantex Plant, and the Y-12 
                National Security Complex); and
                    ``(C) any partnership of entities described in 
                subparagraphs (A) and (B).
            ``(2) Program.--The term `program' means the Energy 
        Technology Maturation Program established under subsection (b).
    ``(b) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish a program, to 
be known as the `Energy Technology Maturation Program', under which the 
Secretary shall provide funding to Department facilities to facilitate 
the commercialization of energy and related technologies that--
            ``(1) exhibit promising commercial potential; and
            ``(2) are developed at Department facilities.
    ``(c) Use of Funds.--A Department facility shall use funding 
provided under the program--
            ``(1) to carry out additional development activities on any 
        technology developed at the Department facility to advance the 
        state of the technology to the degree that a private sector 
        partner would be interested in supporting commercialization of 
        the technology; or
            ``(2) in any case in which a private sector partner has 
        been identified and the identified private sector partner has 
        executed or will execute a technology partnership agreement, to 
        support cooperative development of a technology developed at 
        the Department facility for a specific commercial application 
        of the technology.
    ``(d) Applications.--
            ``(1) In general.--To be eligible to receive funding under 
        the program, a Department facility shall submit to the 
        Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and 
        containing such information as the Secretary may require.
            ``(2) Inclusions.--An application under this subsection 
        shall--
                    ``(A) include a description of--
                            ``(i) the potential impact on markets if 
                        the applicable technology is successfully 
                        commercialized;
                            ``(ii) the intended accomplishments of the 
                        project proposed to be carried out using the 
                        funding with respect to advancing the maturity 
                        and commercial potential of the applicable 
                        technology; and
                            ``(iii) a project plan, including a 
                        description of each activity required to be 
                        carried out to accomplish the specific 
                        objectives of the project; and
                    ``(B) demonstrate to the satisfaction of the 
                Secretary that each Department facility and private 
                sector partner involved in the proposed project, and 
                any other resource required to carry out the project, 
                is qualified and capable of successfully completing, 
                and is available to complete, the project, including a 
                description of the roles and responsibilities proposed 
                to be carried out.
            ``(3) Multiple projects.--A Department facility may submit 
        to the Secretary an application for 1 or more technology 
        maturation projects under the program.
            ``(4) Approval by secretary.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall develop 
                criteria for evaluating applications under this 
                subsection, which may include--
                            ``(i) the potential that a proposed 
                        technology will result in a commercially 
                        successful product within a reasonable 
                        timeframe;
                            ``(ii) the relative maturity of a proposed 
                        technology for commercial application; and
                            ``(iii) the proposed technical approach and 
                        capability of the Department facilities and 
                        private sector partners to successfully 
                        implement a project.
                    ``(B) Priority.--In selecting applicants to receive 
                funding under the program, the Secretary shall give 
                priority to an application submitted by a partnership 
                between--
                            ``(i) a Department facility; and
                            ``(ii) a small business concern.
    ``(e) Amount of Funding.--The amount provided to a recipient for a 
technology maturation project funded under the program shall be not 
more than--
            ``(1) $150,000 for an activity described in subsection 
        (c)(1); and
            ``(2) $750,000 for an activity described in subsection 
        (c)(2).
    ``(f) Cost-Sharing Requirements.--The cost-sharing requirements of 
the program, including requirements relating to in-kind contributions, 
shall be determined by the Secretary in accordance with section 988.
    ``(g) Funding.--The Secretary may use to carry out the program--
            ``(1) amounts in the Energy Technology Commercialization 
        Fund established under section 1001(e); or
            ``(2) any other amounts made available to support 
        technology transfer within the Department.
    ``(h) Annual Report.--The Secretary shall include in the annual 
report required under section 1001(h)(2) a description of the results 
of the technology maturation projects carried out under the program.''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of the Energy Policy 
Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-58; 119 Stat. 594) is amended by adding at 
the end of the items relating to title X the following:

``Sec. 1012. Energy Technology Maturation Program.''.
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