As of March 20, 2020 the California Public Utilities Commission has issued an extension of the CA Rule 21 compliance deadline, pushing the date to June 22, 2020. This includes the Smart Inverter Phase 2 communications requirement and Phase 3 smart inverter requirements.

Pursuant to CPUC Rules of Practice and Procedure, Rule 16.6, the decision to extend the compliance deadline three months was in response to same day requests from Fronius USA and Ginlong Solis USA. Both companies cited delays in testing and certification due to travel restrictions put in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Executive Director ruled that the extension would help avoid unnecessary market interruptions and provide the industry with sufficient time to overcome the testing and certification challenges caused by COVID-19.

This marks yet another delay in the long-anticipated CA Rule 21 implementation process. SunSpec Alliance members have made tremendous progress preparing their solutions for the smart energy era, and many products are now SunSpec Certified. With this final procedural pause, other members still have time to become SunSpec Certified and be there at the opening of the CA Rule 21 Phase 2 market. 

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