§17391 — Title 42 The Public Health and Welfare | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Energy must help States, regional groups, and electric utilities that ask for it to create State, regional, and local electricity distribution plans. Help includes doing a study of resources, future demand, and distribution needs, and making open-source tools that planners and operators can use. The study must look at physical and cyber security, communications needs, how to add distributed energy resources, and use grid design to find risks. The collected information is protected as critical electric infrastructure and can only be shared under the rules that protect such data. The Secretary will give technical help to States, regional reliability groups, and other asset owners and operators. Any requester can stop the help at any time, and the Secretary must stop. The Secretary cannot force anyone to use any model, tool, plan, or analysis.

Title 42, §17391

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)On the request of a State, regional organization, or electric utility, the Secretary of Energy shall provide assistance to States, regional organizations, and electric utilities to facilitate the development of State, regional, and local electricity distribution plans by—

(1)conducting a resource assessment and analysis of future demand and distribution requirements; and

(2)developing open source tools for State, regional, and local planning and operations.

(b)The assessment under subsection (a)(1) shall include—

(1)the evaluation of the physical security, cybersecurity, and associated communications needs of an advanced distribution management system and the integration of distributed energy resources; and

(2)advanced use of grid architecture to analyze risks in an all-hazards approach that includes communications infrastructure, control systems architecture, and power systems architecture.

(c)The information collected for the assessment and analysis under subsection (a)(1)—

(1)shall be considered to be critical electric infrastructure information under section 824o–1 of title 16; and

(2)shall only be released in compliance with regulations implementing that section.

(d)For the purpose of assisting in the development of State and regional electricity distribution plans, the Secretary shall provide technical assistance to—

(1)States;

(2)regional reliability entities; and

(3)other distribution asset owners and operators.

(e)A State or any entity that has requested technical assistance under this section may withdraw the request for technical assistance at any time, and on such withdrawal, the Secretary shall terminate all assistance efforts.

(f)Nothing in this section authorizes the Secretary to require any State, regional organization, regional reliability entity, asset owner, or asset operator to adopt any model, tool, plan, analysis, or assessment.

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was enacted as part of the Energy Act of 2020, and not as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 which comprises this chapter.

§17391 Voluntary State, Regional, and Local Electricity Distribution Planning

Summary

Title 42, §17391

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

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