I looked up the rebate for a heat pump water heater from my utility, and I noticed a new category this year. They offer $400 for a HPWH, or $500 for a “CTA-2045 Heat Pump Water Heater”. It looks like CTA-2045 is a connector/protocol for home automation and smart grid type devices. Presumably the utility (Xcel Energy in Colorado) is trying to implement demand response for residential water heaters, although I don’t see any active programs besides this rebate.

Does anyone make a HPWH with the required CTA-2045 interface? All I could find were a couple vague articles about a pilot program for a utility in the Northeast: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/energyhub-shows-that-heat-pump-water-heaters-can-be-demand-response-assets

I also found a presentation that provides a little background about demand response, but then goes into weird analogies to describe the CTA-2045 interface. https://aceee.org/sites/default/files/files/pdf/conferences/hwf/2016/Eustis_Session7C_HWF16_2.23.16.pdf

It seems like the CTA-2045 connector isn’t useful without a device that lets the grid control the water heater, and without an incentive in place from the utility to use that functionality. But if I’m getting a water heater anyway I might as well get one with that capability so I can participate in the future.

So do any HPWHs on the market have a CTA-2045 interface?