Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy Act of 2019

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. FOSTER. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act.

This act includes provisions from the bipartisan H.R. 2986, the Better Energy Storage Act, or BEST Act, led by me, Mr. Casten, Ms. Herrera Beutler, and Mr. Gonzalez.

These provisions set forth a crosscutting program at the Department of Energy to advance a suite of energy storage technologies. It directs DOE to establish a research and development program for cost-effective, sustainable energy storage systems, including testing and validation activities.

It directs the Department to develop a 5-year strategic plan to continue to identify and refine research goals for the program, and it would establish an energy storage demonstration program to help put more energy storage systems on the electric grid.

Energy storage technologies take many forms, including batteries, pumped hydropower, thermal energy storage, or chemical energy stored as hydrogen. The development of cost-effective storage systems will help reduce the intermittency issues of renewable generation sources like solar and wind energy and will also help provide grid services, such as frequency regulation to ensure the stability of the electrical supply that consumers depend on. And they will begin to address the seasonal variation, which is the final frontier of energy storage technology.

In my home district of Illinois, researchers at Argonne National Lab are leading a national collaboration to accelerate the development of advanced batteries, including novel cathode, anode, and electrolyte designs, as well as new materials synthesis and characterization tools.

And that is why I am so pleased to see provisions of the BEST Act in the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act.

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the hard work of my colleague on the Science Committee, Mr. Casten, who introduced the Promoting Grid Storage Act of 2019. His bill contained many important provisions that have helped strengthen the version of the BEST Act that we are considering within this package.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me and vote ``yes'' on H.R. 4447.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source