OpenADR Alliance Announces First Certified EcoPort™ Products

Rheem, American Standard, e-Radio Debut CTA-2045 Compliant Water Heaters, Components

SAN RAMON, Calif. - October 26, 2022 - (Newswire.com)

The OpenADR Alliance today announced that two major water heating manufacturers, Rheem and American Standard Water Heaters, have achieved EcoPort certification, the Alliance's newest certification program. In addition, a component module provider e-Radio Inc. also achieved EcoPort certification. EcoPort, the consumer-facing brand for the ANSI/CTA-2045 technical standard was created by a collaborative group of utilities, manufacturers and government stakeholders, and helps local electric utilities support water heaters and other appliances as part of peak-load management or other customer programs.

"We are happy to announce EcoPort certification of water heaters from Rheem and American Standard Water Heaters, plus the module from e-Radio, Inc," said Rolf Bienert, Technical and Managing Director, OpenADR Alliance. "This is the result of a year-long effort to create a testing program for products compliant with the CTA-2045 technical standard. The EcoPort brand is reserved for products that are tested and certified compliant with the standard," Bienert added.

Geoff Wickes, Senior Product Manager Emerging Technologies at Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, a leader of the Advanced Water Heating Initiative and a Board member of the OpenADR Alliance commented, "It's exciting to see water heaters - specifically heat pump water heaters with the CTA-2045 standard - hit the market. Heat pump water heaters that are connected to the grid provide better value for consumers and more flexibility for utilities."

Compliance with the CTA-2045 standard is about to be a requirement for all new water heaters sold in the state of Washington. After soliciting public input confirming that supply chain conditions have improved, the Washington State Department of Commerce determined that the heat pump water heater and all other types of electric storage water heaters standard set in WAC 194-24-180 will have an effective date of Jan. 1, 2023. The state of Oregon currently has a similar requirement, with an effective date for equipment manufactured on or after July 1, 2023, and a California Public Utilities Commission decision in 2022 mandated CTA-2045 among its Heat Pump Water Heater program requirements.

About OpenADR Alliance

The OpenADR Alliance, a nonprofit corporation created to foster the development, adoption and compliance of Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) and other standards, helps utilities manage the growing pool of distributed energy resources (DER), which includes renewable energy, energy storage, building and appliance demand response, and electric vehicle managed charging platforms. The OpenADR Alliance has seen its influence grow, with more than 250 OpenADR-certified products as service providers deploy applications and services for EV infrastructures, and now has launched testing for CTA-2045-compliant products under the EcoPort brand. More information about the technology and the certification program can be found at http://www.openadr.org/EcoPort

*The EcoPort logo may only be used on, or in association with, tested and certified products. The certification process is detailed at: https://www.openadr.org/ecoport-cert-brand