House subcommittee advances grid modernization and energy storage bills
Legislation that would advance research and development in electric grid modernization and energy storage was approved on Thursday by the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Energy.
The subcommittee approved three bills, including H.R. 5428, the Grid Modernization Research and Development Act. This bill would direct the federal government to conduct research on grid modernization and security. Specifically, it would establish a smart grid regional demonstration initiative composed of projects focused on cost-effective, advanced technologies for use in power grid sensing, communications, analysis, power flow control, distribution automation, industrial control systems, grid redesign and the integration of distributed energy resources.
“In order for our country to utilize all the new energy technologies that we are developing and moving to market, we will need serious advancements to our electric grid. This bill seeks to address the research and development required to make those grid advancements,” U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA), the subcommittee chairman who introduced the bill, said before the vote.
Duke Energy expressed its support for the bill in a Nov. 19 letter to House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson.
“We are pleased that the Grid Modernization Research and Development Act of 2019 supports next-generation, smart grid technologies that will result in critical benefits for customers. For example, we estimate that new grid technologies that we deployed in Florida helped avoid extended outages for 80,000 customers during Hurricane Florence in 2018,” Louis Renjel, senior vice president of federal government and corporate affairs at Duke Energy, wrote to the subcommittee.
Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, also backs the legislation.
“Congress plays an essential role in promoting and funding federal R&D efforts at DOE,” Kuhn wrote in a Dec. 16 letter to the bill’s sponsors. “H.R. 4528 provides DOE and investor-owned electric companies with the tools that are essential to building and deploying smarter energy infrastructure.”
EEI’s letter continued: “The electric power industry is best positioned to understand and maximize the value of different technologies and systems that can help optimize the operation of the energy grid, integrate renewable resources, and recover more quickly from natural disasters.”
In addition, the subcommittee advanced H.R. 2986, the Better Energy Storage Technology Act, or BEST Act. The bill would establish a research, development, and demonstration program for cost-effective grid-scale energy storage systems with longer durations. The bill was introduced by U.S. Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL).
“Specifically, the bill authorizes research aimed to advance technologies with varying energy storage durations, and ensures research covers a diverse set of technologies, including batteries, pumped hydro systems, and others. National labs, academia, private industry, and environmental groups were all engaged in the making of this bill,” Lamb said.
This bill has been endorsed by several organizations, including the Energy Storage Association.
“Unfortunately, today’s battery technology stores energy for hours, when we really need storage for seasons. We are pleased to see the amendment added to the Better Energy Storage Technology Act (H.R. 2986), providing a focus on the development of longer-duration battery storage research and demonstration,” Duke Energy’s Renjel wrote.
Finally, the subcommittee approved a third bill, H.R. 5374, the Advanced Geothermal Research and Development Act. The bill, introduced by Reps. Johnson (D-TX) and Frank Lucas (R-OK), would establish advanced geothermal research and development programs.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports all three pieces of legislation.
“These bills collectively support the Chamber’s top priorities to spur innovation across the energy sector and to identify and advance policies that continue to make American energy cleaner and stronger,” Chamber officials wrote in a Dec. 17 letter to committee leaders.
The bills now go to the full U.S. House for consideration.
