Grid Research and Development Act

This bill modernizes and standardizes how information and data are reported to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by transmitting utilities and Transmission Organizations under the Federal Power Act, and establishes a centralized data repository and research initiatives to improve transparency and analysis of the electric transmission grid.

Sec. 2, Modernization of reporting: FERC must issue a rule to standardize reporting of information and data, including project lifecycle details, costs and economic justifications, capital structure and rate of return, congestion costs, technical losses, interconnection costs, capacity and load data, use of advanced technologies, and any additional metrics FERC deems necessary. Interconnection reports must be filed quarterly. Reports must be complete, searchable, machine-readable, and publicly accessible through a single web interface, with exemptions available upon written justification. FERC must review and, if incomplete, require revisions to FERC Form No. 1 filings from the past five years within one year of the rule, and within two years make all historical and future Form No. 1 filings publicly available through the centralized data repository.

Sec. 3, Centralized data repository: FERC, with the Energy Information Administration (EIA), must develop and maintain a searchable, publicly accessible data repository containing information from FERC Form Nos. 1, 1-F, 3-Q, 714, 715, and 730, and data reported under this Act. The EIA will develop schemas and metadata, provide user-friendly tools for exploration and analysis, and ensure public access in bulk and disaggregated forms. The repository must be machine-readable, use standardized formats, enable uploading of reports, include interactive tools and visualization interfaces, incorporate APIs or bulk download functionality, and align with security guidelines for Critical Energy/Electric Infrastructure Information.

Sec. 4, Grid research and analytics: The Secretary of Energy, with FERC, must conduct research and publish periodic reports on cost drivers, value delivered to ratepayers, mechanisms to enhance affordability, comparative scenario modeling, systemic cost impacts from interconnection inefficiencies, and opportunities to increase system efficiency. The Secretary must also develop and maintain an Interconnection Data Dashboard through one or more National Laboratories, presenting real-time and historical interconnection data with visualization, filtering, and export capabilities, and publish annual reports summarizing findings and recommendations.

Sec. 5, Definitions: Defines key terms used in the Act, including Administrator (EIA Administrator), Commission (FERC), FERC Form No. 1, metadata, project (transmission infrastructure projects), Secretary (Secretary of Energy), and terms from the Federal Power Act (transmitting utility and Transmission Organization).