§17216 Organization and administration of programs

Summary

Require the Secretary to coordinate and manage water power research across the Department, other federal agencies, National Laboratories, and the National Marine Energy Centers. The Secretary must work with industry, labs, federal partners, colleges (including Minority Serving Institutions), National Marine Energy Centers, Tribal groups (including Alaska Native Corporations), and international experts. The Secretary should encourage projects that bring in groups not usually involved, like Minority Serving Institutions, and help international partnerships (with agencies such as USAID) on hydropower, pumped storage, and marine energy. Project results must be shared on websites, reports, databases, training, and at conferences while keeping proprietary or legally protected information private. The Secretary must ask for applications at least once each fiscal year and support education and outreach about water power and its workforce, including activities at the National Marine Energy Centers. The Secretary may provide technical help, analysis, and workforce training, including work to expand access to advanced water power technologies for rural, Tribal, and low-income communities and to share standards and best practices. The Secretary must write a plan within one year after December 27, 2020, get input from stakeholders, update it each year, and cover near-term (up to 2 years), mid-term (up to 7 years), and long-term (up to 15 years) challenges. The Secretary must also issue a public report within one year after December 27, 2020, and at least every 2 years after that, sending it to Congress and including research findings, activities, the current plan, and progress.