II
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4080
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 9, 2024
Mr. Braun (for himself and Mr. Scott of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Energy to conduct a study and submit a report on national resource adequacy, and for other purposes.
Study and report on national resource adequacy
Definitions
In this section:
Resource adequacy
The term resource adequacy means the ability of supply-side and demand-side resources to meet aggregate electricity demand (including losses).
Secretary
The term Secretary means the Secretary of Energy.
Study
The Secretary shall conduct a comprehensive study on national resource adequacy to determine—
how recent retirements of baseload electric generation have affected the regional firm capacity available for all regional electric grids;
the effects that planned retirements of baseload electric generation and the increased need for peaking capacity have or would have on energy shortfalls;
how the variable nature of certain sources of energy production and forecasting errors may impact resource adequacy and capacity accreditation;
a range of potential future electricity demand trajectories that captures the uncertainty represented by a changing climate, decarbonization, and macroeconomic factors; and
whether that future electricity demand requires increasing firm capacity or interregional transmission to load match with regional peak power demand during all hours of the year; and
the extent to which variable generation technologies in concert with other technical and nontechnical solutions can provide adequate capacity to meet a range of potential future electricity demand trajectories.
Report
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report describing the results of the study conducted under subsection (b), including recommendations for Congress to ensure that the United States maintains necessary resource adequacy to meet forecasted demand.