Capabilities of Universities and Private-Sector Firms for Providing Technical Assistance to States, U.S. Territories, Indian Tribes, and Other Eligible Entities To Enhance the Resilience of Electricity Delivery Systems

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Published

October 7, 2022

Issuing agencies

Energy Department

Abstract

The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking information from universities and private-sector firms, including non-profit organizations, on their capabilities for providing assistance to States, U.S. Territories, Indian Tribes, and other eligible entities to enhance their ability to plan and implement strategies for improving the resilience of systems that deliver electric power. Towards that aim, DOE requests that interested parties provide responses to the set of questions presented within this notice. DOE intends to use this information to ascertain the best available resources and approach for carrying out a technical assistance program under the Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA).

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 194 (Friday, October 7, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 194 (Friday, October 7, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61008-61009]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-21892]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Capabilities of Universities and Private-Sector Firms for
Providing Technical Assistance to States, U.S. Territories, Indian
Tribes, and Other Eligible Entities To Enhance the Resilience of
Electricity Delivery Systems

AGENCY: Grid Deployment Office (GDO), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking information from
universities and private-sector firms, including non-profit
organizations, on their capabilities for providing assistance to
States, U.S. Territories, Indian Tribes, and other eligible entities to
enhance their ability to plan and implement strategies for improving
the resilience of systems that deliver electric power. Towards that
aim, DOE requests that interested parties provide responses to the set
of questions presented within this notice. DOE intends to use this
information to ascertain the best available resources and approach for
carrying out a technical assistance program under the Infrastructure
Improvement and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA).

DATES: Responses to the RFI must be received by no later than 5:00 p.m.
EDT on November 21, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are to submit responses to the following
email address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6d595d5c5d5c392c2d051c43090208430a021b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="aa9e9a9b9a9bfeebeac2db84cec5cf84cdc5dc">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>. Include ``40101 TA RFI'' in the
subject line of the email. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft
Word (.docx) or PDF attachment to the email, and no more than 10 pages
in length, 12-point font, 1-inch margins. It is recommended that
attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped)
to ensure message delivery. Only electronic responses will be accepted.
For ease of replying and to aid categorization of your responses,
please copy and paste the RFI questions, including the question
numbering, and use them as a template for your response. Respondents
may answer as many or as few questions as they wish. Respondents are
requested to provide the following information at the start of their
response to this RFI:
<bullet> Company/institution name.
<bullet> Company/institution contact.
<bullet> Contact's address, phone number, and email address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joe Paladino, (202) 586-0020,
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5e6a6e6f6e6f0a1f1e362f703a313b70393128"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d4e0e4e5e4e5809594bca5fab0bbb1fab3bba2">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>. Submitting inquiries to the email address is
preferred.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of the IIJA section 40101,
Preventing Outages and Enhancing the Resilience of the Electric Grid,
is to help States, U.S. Territories, Indian Tribes, and other entities
eligible to receive funding deploy a variety of measures to improve the
resilience of the electric grid against disruptive events in which the
operations of the electric grid are disrupted, preventively shut off,
or cannot operate safely due to extreme weather, wildfire, natural
disasters, or cyber-attacks.\1\ These measures may range from hardening
assets to deploying more advanced practices and grid technologies,
including energy storage systems and microgrids, for improving
resilience.
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\1\ The entirety of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
(IIJA), Public Law 117-58, is available at: <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/tex">https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/tex</a>t. IIJA
Section 40101 defines an eligible entity as being (a) an electric
grid operator, (b) an electricity storage operator, (c) an
electricity generator, (d) a transmission owner or operator, (e) a
distribution provider, (f) a fuel supplier, and (g) any other
relevant entity, as determined by DOE.
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Under this program, DOE is interested in helping entities better
understand the implication of threats to their electricity delivery
system and determine strategies for improving its resilience. This may
include the formulation of planning guidelines that set priorities for
mitigating impacts to critical facilities and services, as well as for
investments that will lead to measurable enhancements in the resilience
of infrastructure intended to provide reliable electric power. In
addition, DOE will encourage the application of energy justice
principles in efforts to determine and implement resilience measures so
that the benefits derived from them are realized in an equitable manner
by all.\2\
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\2\ Information on DOE's Justice40 Initiative is available at:
<a href="https://www.energy.gov/diversity/justice40-initiative">https://www.energy.gov/diversity/justice40-initiative</a>.
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The technical assistance envisioned would apply expert capabilities
in several areas including, for example:
1. Forecasting methods and tools to determine customer electricity
demand, the adoption of distributed energy resources, and weather/
climate parameters (e.g., temperature, rainfall, windspeed, flooding/
inundation) at national, regional, and local levels.
2. Risk assessment methods, tools, and processes to examine risks
and their impacts on energy infrastructure, essential human services
(e.g., water supply and emergency services), and vulnerable populations
to prioritize resilience investments.
3. Modeling and simulation methods and tools to determine the
severity and impact of threats on energy and electricity infrastructure
at national, regional, and local levels.
4. Methods and tools for multi-objective decision analysis to
enable the prioritization of electric infrastructure investment options
across a range of policy objectives.
5. Methods and tools for addressing energy equity (e.g., relating
to procedural, distributive, and restorative energy justice principles)
in the determination of resilience measures.\3\
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\3\ Ibid.
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6. Cost-effectiveness methods and tools to ascertain the
appropriateness and benefit of infrastructure investments to aid
decision-making.

[[Page 61009]]

Where it may pertain to their specific capabilities, areas of
expertise, or business interests, DOE would like interested parties to
provide responses to the following questions:
1. What methods, tools, and datasets would you recommend for
undertaking efforts associated with any of the areas of expertise
listed previously? What methods, tools, and datasets are you
developing, have developed, and/or applied for undertaking any of these
areas of expertise? What additional advancements (e.g., spatial or
temporal resolution) are needed to improve these methods, tools, and
datasets?
2. What approaches (e.g., partnerships and business models) would
you recommend for providing services and technical assistance in the
areas of expertise listed above? What successful approaches have you
observed and/or have undertaken in providing such services and
technical assistance in ways that have specifically benefited States,
U.S. Territories, Indian Tribes, and/or other eligible entities?
3. What are the current limitations in planning frameworks for
improving the resilience of electricity delivery systems and how would
you address them?
Interested parties may also provide reference documents and website
links to support their responses.
Proprietary Information: Because information received in response
to this RFI may be used to structure future programs and/or otherwise
be made available to the public, respondents are strongly advised NOT
to include any information in their responses that might be considered
business sensitive, proprietary, or otherwise confidential. If,
however, a respondent chooses to submit business sensitive,
proprietary, or otherwise confidential information, it must be clearly
and conspicuously marked as such in the response. Responses containing
confidential, proprietary, or privileged information must be
conspicuously marked as described below. Failure to comply with these
marking requirements may result in the disclosure of the unmarked
information under the Freedom of Information Act or otherwise. The U.S.
Federal Government is not liable for the disclosure or use of unmarked
information and may use or disclose such information for any purpose.
Confidential, Commercial, and Financial Information: Consistent
with 10 CFR 1004.11, DOE requires that any person submitting
information that he or she believes to be confidential and exempt by
law from public disclosure should submit via email two well-marked
copies: one copy of the document marked ``Confidential Commercial and
Financial Information'' including all the information believed to be
confidential, and one copy of the document marked ``non-confidential''
with the information believed to be confidential deleted. DOE will make
its own determination about the confidential status of the information
and treat it according to its determination. The copy containing
confidential commercial and financial information must include a cover
sheet marked as follows identifying the specific pages containing
confidential, proprietary, or privileged information: ``Notice of
Restriction on Disclosure and Use of Data: Pages [list applicable
pages] of this response may contain confidential, commercial, or
financial information that is exempt from public disclosure.'' The
Government may use or disclose any information that is not
appropriately marked or otherwise restricted, regardless of source. In
addition, (1) the header and footer of every page that contains
confidential, proprietary, or privileged information must be marked as
follows: ``Contains Confidential, Commercial, or Financial Information
Exempt from Public Disclosure'' and (2) every line and paragraph
containing proprietary, privileged, or trade secret information must be
clearly marked with [[double brackets]] or highlighting.

Signing Authority

This document of the Department of Energy was signed on September
30, 2022, by Maria D. Robinson, Director of the Grid Deployment Office,
pursuant to delegated authority from the Secretary of Energy. That
document with the original signature and date is maintained by DOE. For
administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of
the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned DOE Federal
Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and submit the
document in electronic format for publication, as an official document
of the Department of Energy. This administrative process in no way
alters the legal effect of this document on publication in the Federal
Register.

Signed in Washington, DC, on October 4, 2022.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2022-21892 Filed 10-6-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

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