§15891 Projects enhancing insular energy independence

Summary

The Secretary must study whether energy projects in U.S. insular areas can work. An electric utility in an insular area can ask for a study if it will pay at least 10% of the study cost. If the utility is in the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the Republic of Palau, the request also needs written support from that freely associated state's President or Ambassador. The Secretary must talk with regional utility groups while doing the studies and deciding if a project is realistic. A project is considered workable if it would cut how much the island needs imported fossil fuels or give needed local power, and it can do so at a reasonable cost. If the Secretary and the Secretary of the Interior decide a project is workable and an electric utility agrees to run and maintain it, the Secretary may give technical and financial help to build it. The Secretary should consider working through regional utility groups to provide help. Congress authorized $500,000 per year for studies and $4,000,000 per year for building projects. No single insular area may get more than 20% of the funds in any 3-year span unless the Secretary decides more money there best meets the law’s goals.