Standards Development Services

ACP is an ANSI accredited standards development organization for consensus renewable energy standards in the United States. Standards play an important role in everyday life. They may establish size or shape or capacity of a product, process or system. They can specify performance of products or personnel. They also can define terms so that there is no misunderstanding among those using the standard.

As the Secretariat, ACP administers the ANSI standards process through ACP consensus bodies (committees) that develop and maintain voluntary national consensus standards for the renewable energy industry, ensures that the process for revision of standards is timely and in accordance with the ANSI Essential Requirements procedures, and publishes the final product of the consensus process.

On January 7, ACP notified and filed an application to ANSI for the transfer of the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) standards accreditation, with an expanded scope. On February 16, the ANSI Executive Standards Council (ExSC) approved ACP’s application. ANSI published the scope in their Standards Action publication on March 5, for a 30-day public comment.

Under ACP’s Standards Development Procedures, three different types of standards may be developed:\

• Standards: documents with mandatory requirements
• Recommended Practices: documents in which procedures and positions represent good practices
• Technical Reports: documents in which alternative approaches to good practices are described and suggested but which make no clear-cut recommendations