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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 23, 2017 04:07 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Stephen Barrar |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Energy Resiliency and Emergency Preparedness and Response |
| In the very near future, I plan to introduce what may be known as the Energy Resiliency and Emergency Preparedness Act. As you may know, Pennsylvania has experienced an unprecedented number of extreme weather events that have resulted in large-scale electric system outages. While our utilities have done great work responding to these events, technologies are emerging that will enable Pennsylvania to achieve higher levels of grid resiliency; the type of resiliency that is needed to support our emergency and disaster response capabilities. With this proposal, I am seeking to encourage the development of pilot programs to assist with this mission. I propose to provide a legislative framework to encourage the deployment and use of new technologies such as micro grids and energy grid storage capabilities. The focal point of my legislation is to create a pathway for our utilities to develop pilot projects that will deliver highly advanced levels of reliability to serve essential public infrastructure and community services during emergency events. While creating an ability to ensure the availability of reliable energy during our disaster emergencies, the use of the development and use of these technologies will assist in providing clean energy such as solar that can be distributed into the grid; technologies that can potentially promote high tech business endeavors in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. There currently doesn’t exist a clear regulatory framework for consideration of these types of pilot projects; therefore, this proposal will provide a mechanism for broad flexibility to consider utility pilot project proposals that can set forth long-term goals to achieve resiliency in energy distribution during disaster emergencies and beyond. Please consider supporting this important endeavor in the provision of sustainable energy distribution for emergency preparedness and response. |
Introduced as HB1412