42 U.S.C. § 17391: Voluntary state, regional, and local electricity distribution planning

conducting a resource assessment and analysis of future demand and distribution requirements; and developing open source tools for State, regional, and local planning and operations. the evaluation of the physical security, cybersecurity, and associated communications needs of an advanced distribution management system and the integration of distributed energy resources; and advanced use of grid architecture to analyze risks in an all-hazards approach that includes communications infrastructure, control systems architecture, and power systems architecture. shall be considered to be critical electric infrastructure information under section 824 o –1 of title 16; and shall only be released in compliance with regulations implementing that section. States; regional reliability entities; and other distribution asset owners and operators. A State or any entity that has requested technical assistance under this section may withdraw the request for technical assistance at any time, and on such withdrawal, the Secretary shall terminate all assistance efforts. Nothing in this section authorizes the Secretary to require any State, regional organization, regional reliability entity, asset owner, or asset operator to adopt any model, tool, plan, analysis, or assessment.