Bonneville Power Administration Joins USNAP Alliance

MORGAN HILL, CALIF., Aug. 5, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The USNAP Alliance today announced the addition of the the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to the growing list of organizations supporting the simple, cost effective ANSI/CEA-2045 modular communication interface standard. This standard enables home area networks (HAN) or demand response (DR) standards to communicate with utility systems, energy gateways or other devices within the home.

The ANSI/CEA-2045 standard provides a modular approach to enable demand response communications with residential and small commercial end-use devices, including space conditioning thermostats, water heaters, air conditioners, electric vehicle chargers, and is being adopted for communication with renewable generation, such as rooftop solar. The USNAP Alliance is furthering the development of the ANSI/CEA-2045 standard and is implementing a testing and compliance program for products utilizing the standard.
 
The CEA-2045 port communicates directly with the equipment's own controls, so it provides more flexibility in the type of response and offers less wear and tear on the equipment than the traditional method of simply turning off voltage to the device for load control.
 
"To accelerate the creation of the Smart Grid within the home, manufacturers need a set communications port standard to produce intelligent and energy aware consumer products that are able to interact with each other as well as the grid," said Chris Kotting, executive director of the USNAP Alliance.  "BPA's support for ANSI/CEA-2045 further validates the need for this interoperable, secure and cost-effective solution to extend the Smart Grid to energy-aware consumer products.  Each new utility and consumer product manufacturer supporting the standard furthers the opportunities for electric utilities and others to advance environmental and economic goals through Smart Grid enhancement."
 
The USNAP Alliance is open to anyone interested in promoting, advocating, using or advancing the further development of the ANSI/CEA-2045 modular communication interface standard. USNAP Alliance membership consists of major stakeholders in the utility and consumer products industry.
 
About BPA

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), headquartered in Portland, Ore., is a nonprofit federal power marketing agency that sells wholesale renewable hydropower from federal dams in the Columbia Basin and operates three-quarters of high-voltage transmission lines in the Northwest. BPA also pursues breakthroughs than can increase efficiencies, solves operational challenges and reduce costs — all of which help maintain affordable, reliable electric power for the Northwest and lessen impacts to the environment. www.bpa.gov

About USNAP Alliance

The USNAP Alliance is an open industry association providing testing and certification programs for the ANSI/CEA-2045 Modular Communication Interface standard. Alliance membership is comprised of utilities, manufacturers, consultants and other parties interested in developing or deploying the standard. For more information, or to find out how to join the Alliance, please visit www.usnap.org.