Department of Energy May 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces a meeting of the Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC). The Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP) issued a Notice of Intent (NOI) to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled ``WAP Enhancement & Innovation'' in accordance with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). As stated in the NOI, the aim of this anticipated FOA is to support WAP Enhancement & Innovation, and the broader government-wide approach to deploy demonstration projects that maximize the benefits of the clean energy transition as the nation works to curb the climate crisis, empower workers, and advance environmental justice. The anticipated FOA will seek applications to expand the impact of DOE's existing Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) by utilizing leveraged resources and enhanced community partnerships to perform deep energy retrofits of low-income residential buildings and empower local community representation within the energy workforce. DOE plans to seek proposals that drive innovative approaches to program coordination and service delivery, while fostering the collaboration of dynamic and diverse teams.

In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the requirements and burden of the information collection FERC 725SMandatory Reliability Standards: Emergency Preparedness and Operations (EOP) Reliability Standards.

In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on a new information collection, FERC-725D(1), Mandatory Reliability Standards FAC-001-4 and FAC-002-4. This notice will be part of an information collection request that will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a review of the information collection requirements.

Pursuant to the Federal Power Act (``FPA''), the U.S. Department of Energy (``DOE'' or the ``Department'') Grid Deployment Office (``GDO'') is issuing this Notice of Intent (``NOI'') to establish a process to designate ``route-specific'' National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (``NIETCs,'' pronounced \NIT-sees\). Through this process, DOE intends to invite interested entities to propose for designation as a NIETC a potential route where one or more potential transmission projects could be located within a geographic area where the Department has identified transmission need(s) (i.e., present or expected electric transmission capacity constraints or congestion that adversely affects consumers) and where the Department has made other statutory findings. DOE intends to develop final guidelines and procedures for interested entities to propose that DOE designate a NIETC. In this NOI, DOE identifies certain key program design elements that it believes should form the basis of an applicant- driven, route-specific process to designate NIETCs. In the accompanying RFI, DOE seeks comments from the public and interested parties on these identified program elements and any additional program elements that should be included to assist in developing final guidelines, procedures, and evaluation criteria for the applicant-driven, route- specific NIETC designation process.

The U.S. Department of Energy (``DOE'') amends the current test procedure for portable air conditioners (``portable ACs'') to incorporate a measure of variable-speed portable AC performance, generally consistent with previously granted waivers, and to make minor clarifying edits. DOE also establishes a new test procedure for portable ACs that provides more representative measures of cooling capacity and energy consumption. The new test procedure will provide the basis for development of any updated efficiency standards for portable ACs. Should DOE establish such standards, the amended test procedure would become the required test method for determining compliance.