Putting an action plan in place

In December of 2008, The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC) delivered its "smart grid" and storage reports to Congress. They are available on the DOE Web site, and interested readers are encouraged to read the storage report. In writing the report and making its recommendations on storage for the U.S. electricity industry to the Energy Secretary, the EAC was fulfilling two objectives. The first was to counsel the Secretary of Energy and the Assistant Secretary for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability on implementing the Energy Policy Act of 2005, executing the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), and modernizing the nation's electricity delivery infrastructure. The second objective was to fulfill the congressional requirements of EISA Section 641(e)(5)(B). According to the requirement, no later than one year after the date of the Act's enactment and every five years thereafter, the EAC, in conjunction with the Secretary, "shall develop a five-year plan for integrating basic and applied research so that the United States retains a globally competitive domestic energy storage industry for electric drive vehicles, stationary applications, and electricity transmission and distribution." The Energy Storage Technologies Subcommittee of the EAC was established in March of 2008.