United States HR 8706: Better Energy Storage and Safety Act

Bill Text

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119TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 8706
To amend the Energy Act of 2020 to modify certain programs and projects
with respect to energy storage technology, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 7, 2026
Mr. PANETTA (for himself and Mr. HARRIGAN) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
A BILL
To amend the Energy Act of 2020 to modify certain pro-
grams and projects with respect to energy storage tech-
nology, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Better Energy Storage 4
and Safety Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN PROGRAMS AND 6
PROJECTS WITH RESPECT TO ENERGY STOR-7
AGE TECHNOLOGY. 8
(a) CLARIFICATION OF DEFINITION OF ENERGY 9
STORAGE SYSTEM.—Subsection (a)(1) of section 3201 of 10
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the Energy Act of 2020 (42 U.S.C. 17232) is amended 1
by inserting ‘‘(including any components or modules that 2
comprise such a system)’’ after ‘‘any system’’. 3
(b) ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM RESEARCH, DEVEL-4
OPMENT, AND DEPLOYMENT PROGRAM.— 5
(1) EXPANDING OBJECTIVES.—Paragraph (2) 6
of section 3201(b) of the Energy Act of 2020 (42 7
U.S.C. 17232(b)) is amended— 8
(A) in subparagraph (A)— 9
(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 10
by inserting ‘‘modules,’’ after ‘‘compo-11
nents,’’; and 12
(ii) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘of resi-13
dential and utility energy storage systems’’ 14
after ‘‘deployment’’; 15
(B) in subparagraph (I), by striking ‘‘and’’ 16
after the semicolon; and 17
(C) by adding at the end the following new 18
subparagraphs: 19
‘‘(K) models, tools, and diagnostic data 20
sets to improve the safe installation and long- 21
term operation of energy storage systems by 22
abating expected failure modes that could dam-23
age such a system, including— 24
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‘‘(i) component, module, or system 1
failure; and 2
‘‘(ii) thermal runaway and other fire 3
and explosion risks; and 4
‘‘(L) early detection methods and preventa-5
tive maintenance techniques relating to failure 6
modes of energy storage systems.’’. 7
(2) MODIFYING TESTING AND VALIDATION.— 8
Paragraph (3) of section 3201(b) of the Energy Act 9
of 2020 (42 U.S.C. 17232(b)) is amended to read as 10
follows: 11
‘‘(3) BENCHMARKING, TESTING, AND VALIDA-12
TION.— 13
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In coordination with 14
one or more National Laboratories, the Direc-15
tor of the National Institute of Standards and 16
Technology, and the Administrator of the 17
United States Fire Administration, the Sec-18
retary shall support the development, standard-19
ized testing, and validation of energy storage 20
systems specified in subparagraph (B), includ-21
ing test-bed trials and field tests, by developing 22
testing and evaluation methodologies for the fol-23
lowing: 24
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‘‘(i) Storage technologies, controls, 1
and power electronics for such systems 2
under a variety of operating and failure 3
conditions, including such conditions that 4
occur while such a system is being utilized. 5
‘‘(ii) Standardized and grid perform-6
ance testing for energy storage systems, 7
materials, and technologies at each stage 8
of development and at the operational sys-9
tem level. 10
‘‘(iii) Reliability, safety, degradation, 11
and durability testing under standard and 12
evolving duty cycles. 13
‘‘(iv) Component, module, and inte-14
grated system level safety and degradation 15
stress testing to failure. 16
‘‘(v) Accelerated life testing protocols 17
to predict estimated lifetime metrics with 18
accuracy. 19
‘‘(vi) Equipment, including automated 20
fire suppression systems, and techniques 21
for mitigating risks of such energy storage 22
systems. 23
‘‘(B) ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS SPECI-24
FIED.—The energy storage systems specified in 25
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this subparagraph are energy storage systems 1
that satisfy the following requirements: 2
‘‘(i) Are under the program. 3
‘‘(ii) Are operational and connected to 4
the grid. 5
‘‘(iii) Were installed before the most 6
recent codes and standards for such sys-7
tems. 8
‘‘(iv) Represent a variety of the fol-9
lowing characteristics: 10
‘‘(I) Chemistries. 11
‘‘(II) Compositions. 12
‘‘(III) Installation and manufac-13
turing techniques. 14
‘‘(IV) Any other characteristic 15
the Secretary determines ap