U.S. CODE

U.S. Code

§ 17383. Smart Grid Advisory Committee and Smart Grid Task Force

(a) Smart Grid Advisory Committee

(1) Establishment

The Secretary shall establish, within 90 days of December 19, 2007, a Smart Grid Advisory Committee (either as an independent entity or as a designated sub-part of a larger advisory committee on electricity matters). The Smart Grid Advisory Committee shall include eight or more members appointed by the Secretary who have sufficient experience and expertise to represent the full range of smart grid technologies and services, to represent both private and non-Federal public sector stakeholders. One member shall be appointed by the Secretary to Chair the Smart Grid Advisory Committee.

(2) Mission

The mission of the Smart Grid Advisory Committee shall be to advise the Secretary, the Assistant Secretary, and other relevant Federal officials concerning the development of smart grid technologies, the progress of a national transition to the use of smart-grid technologies and services, the evolution of widely-accepted technical and practical standards and protocols to allow interoperability and inter-communication among smart-grid capable devices, and the optimum means of using Federal incentive authority to encourage such progress.

(3) Applicability of Federal Advisory Committee Act

The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall apply to the Smart Grid Advisory Committee.

(b) Smart Grid Task Force

(1) Establishment

The Assistant Secretary of the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability shall establish, within 90 days of December 19, 2007, a Smart Grid Task Force composed of designated employees from the various divisions of that office who have responsibilities related to the transition to smart-grid technologies and practices. The Assistant Secretary or his designee shall be identified as the Director of the Smart Grid Task Force. The Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall each designate at least one employee to participate on the Smart Grid Task Force. Other members may come from other agencies at the invitation of the Assistant Secretary or the nomination of the head of such other agency. The Smart Grid Task Force shall, without disrupting the work of the Divisions or Offices from which its members are drawn, provide an identifiable Federal entity to embody the Federal role in the national transition toward development and use of smart grid technologies.

(2) Mission

The mission of the Smart Grid Task Force shall be to insure awareness, coordination and integration of the diverse activities of the Office and elsewhere in the Federal Government related to smart-grid technologies and practices, including but not limited to: smart grid research and development; development of widely accepted smart-grid standards and protocols; the relationship of smart-grid technologies and practices to electric utility regulation; the relationship of smart-grid technologies and practices to infrastructure development, system reliability and security; and the relationship of smart-grid technologies and practices to other facets of electricity supply, demand, transmission, distribution, and policy. The Smart Grid Task Force shall collaborate with the Smart Grid Advisory Committee and other Federal agencies and offices. The Smart Grid Task Force shall meet at the call of its Director as necessary to accomplish its mission.

There are authorized to be appropriated for the purposes of this section such sums as are necessary to the Secretary to support the operations of the Smart Grid Advisory Committee and Smart Grid Task Force for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2020.

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