Administration Perspective and Goals

President Obama has declared energy efficiency and renewable energy to be high priorities, stressing their importance to jobs, economic growth, and U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. Recent Appropriations History

Since 2005, the annual Energy and Water Development (E&W) appropriations bill has funded all DOE programs, including those operated by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). That office conducts two general types of programs: research and development (R&D), often conducted in partnership with private sector firms, and distribution of grant funds to state, territorial, and tribal governments. EERE administers a wide range of R&D programs, each with its own set of goals and objectives. Key Requested Increases

As part of that requested overall increase, DOE sought the largest increases for manufacturing and vehicles, sought significant increases for several other programs, and proposed to create a new local grants program. Manufacturing. Most of the requested increase, $140 million, would have supported two new Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiatives (CEMIs)—part of the President's National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). Vehicles. The $164 milllion requested increase would have mainly supported the EV Everywhere Grand Challenge—with funds spread over several subprograms. Five other sizable increases are sought for EERE R&D programs:
Solar. Buildings. Geothermal. Wind. The largest share of the $39 million increase would have gone to new technology. Also, a sizable increase would have gone to mitigate wildlife impacts. Bioenergy. Weatherization. State Energy. 114-91 ) the Energy and Water Development (E&W) Appropriations Bill, 2016 with a recommendation of about $1.640 billion (includes a $17 million rescission) for EERE. House floor action increased the amount by $11 million to $1.652 billion. 114-54 ) recommended $1.933 billion (includes a $17 million rescission). Action on H.R. Ultimately, the E&W bill was incorporated as Division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, FY2016 ( H.R. 2029 ( P.L. 114-113 , Division D) provided nearly $2.1 billion for EERE. 2028 . WBG semiconductors are one focus of DOE's Next Generation Power Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute. The House committee report proposed a cut of $60 million below the FY2015 level and recommended no funding for the drop-in biofuels project with the Departments of the Navy and Agriculture. The House-passed E&W bill ( H.R. The Senate report recommended an increase of $12 million over the FY2015 level and included $20 million for the SuperTruck II program. All of the funding would have gone to offshore wind development. About $4.8 million of that increase would have gone to the Technology-to-Market subprogram, of which $2.5 million is due to a transfer of the Solar Decathlon activity from EERE's Office of Building Technologies, and $2.3 million would support a new clean energy philanthropy alliance and a clean energy jobs initiative.
Since 2005, the Energy and Water Development (E&W) appropriations bill has funded all Department of Energy (DOE) programs, including those operated by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). That office conducts two types of programs: research and development (R&D), usually conducted in partnership with private sector firms, and grant funds that are distributed to state governments. EERE administers a wide range of R&D programs, each with its own set of goals and objectives.
President Obama has declared energy efficiency and renewable energy to be a high priority, stressing their importance to jobs, economic growth, and U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. Also, efficiency and renewables are a focus of the President's Climate Action Plan and both are key strategies for the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan regulation.
DOE's FY2016 request for EERE sought $2.723 billion, an increase of $809 million (42%). Nearly half of the proposed EERE increase would have gone to two R&D programs: manufacturing ($204 million) and vehicle technologies ($164 million). For manufacturing, most of the increase ($140 million) would have supported two new Clean Energy Manufacturing Institutes—part of the President's National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). For vehicles, the increase would have mainly supported the Electric Vehicle (EV) Everywhere Grand Challenge—with funds spread over several subprograms.
The next largest requested increases would have gone to two more R&D programs: solar ($104 million) and building technologies ($92 million). Most of the remaining increase would have gone to three other R&D programs: geothermal ($41 million), wind ($39 million), and bioenergy ($21 million). Also, $75 million would have gone to increases for three grant programs: weatherization ($35 million), state energy ($20 million), and local energy ($20 million).
At several House and Senate appropriations and oversight hearings, testimony and Member questions revealed differing views about the requested funding amount and the role of market barriers and national interests in EERE program design and funding.
For the EERE portion of the FY2016 E&W bill (H.R. 2028), the House approved $1.652 billion (includes a $17 million rescission of prior year funds and $11 million added by non-program-specific floor amendments) and the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $1.933 billion (includes a $17 million rescission). However, the Administration issued a veto threat, in part because it found that H.R. 2028 would "underfund critical activities" at EERE. Ultimately, E&W appropriations appeared as Division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2029). The bill was enacted as P.L. 114-113. The law provided $2.069 billion for EERE, which was $654 million below the request, but $145 million above the FY2015 level. Specific program increases included Vehicles ($30 million), Manufacturing ($29 million), Buildings ($29 million), Weatherization Grants ($22 million), Geothermal ($16 million), Water ($9 million), and Solar ($9 million). The Wind program was cut by nearly $12 million.