HR4338-119

What This Bill Does

The Weather-Safe Energy Act requires the Secretary of Energy to report to Congress within six months on federally funded research and development center work using meteorological, hydrological, and extreme-weather data for energy-system modeling and on DOE's plan to implement the bill. DOE must then develop and maintain an open-access Weather-Safe Energy Platform within two years. The Platform must provide high-resolution U.S. meteorological and hydrological variables from advanced atmospheric models, regional forecasting datasets, and reanalysis data; preserve spatiotemporal correlations needed to model cascading electricity-system failures; include historical data and short-, medium-, and long-term projections; support ensemble and narrative scenario modeling; and provide up-to-date information suitable for electricity planning and operations. DOE must consult with other federal agencies, national laboratories, federally funded research and development centers, electric utilities, grid operators, state energy offices, public utility commissions, reliability organizations, and other experts, and must support technical assistance and training for users.

Who Benefits and How

Electric utilities benefit because the Platform would provide weather and hydrology data suited to grid planning and operations. Grid operators benefit from data that preserves correlations relevant to cascading failures and reliability modeling. State energy offices and public utility commissions benefit from open-access scenarios for evaluating electricity-system planning decisions. National laboratories and federally funded research centers benefit from a defined DOE role using their modeling expertise.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Department of Energy must build, maintain, update, and support the Weather-Safe Energy Platform. The Secretary of Energy must submit an initial report within six months and make the Platform available within two years. Federal research centers and national laboratories must coordinate data, modeling methods, technical assistance, and training. Electric-sector users may need to adapt planning models to use higher-resolution weather and hydrological datasets.

Key Provisions

• Requires DOE to report on weather and extreme-event data use in energy-system modeling within six months.
• Establishes an open-access Weather-Safe Energy Platform within two years.
• Provides high-resolution meteorological, hydrological, historical, projection, and ensemble scenario data for electricity planning.
• Requires consultation, technical assistance, and training for electric-sector and public-sector users.