The DLC has adopted a preset revision cycle for the Horticultural Lighting Technical Requirements and QPL to give greater predictability surrounding changes to end users.

The QPL will undergo 24-month major revision cycles focusing on efficacy and structural updates, and 12-month minor revision cycles focusing on administrative and process improvements.

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is quickly becoming the fastest growing electric load for many utilities, with lighting representing the greatest portion of that load. Well-designed horticultural lighting products have the potential to save significant energy while optimizing plant growth and health.

Hort V2.0 maintains the minimum efficacy threshold of listed products. The new requirements also continue the transition from using traditional lighting metrics to using horticultural-specific metrics that better represent horticultural lighting performance. Finally, V2.0 addresses barriers to listing multiple product variations by introducing a process for family grouping and private labeling of already listed OEM products, meaning more horticultural products will be available to choose from on the QPL.

V2.0 goes into effect on March 31, 2021. The release contains three policy documents: Testing and Reporting Requirements, Family Grouping Policy, and Private Label Policy. Download each document below.

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is quickly becoming the fastest growing electric load for many utilities, with lighting representing the greatest portion of that load. Well-designed horticultural lighting products have the potential to save significant energy while optimizing plant growth and health.

As a minor update to the Technical Requirements, Hort V2.1 will not contain an efficacy increase. However, V2.1 will expand the range of horticultural lighting products eligible to be qualified on the Hort QPL, creating greater access to utility incentives for horticultural lighting manufacturers and providing more avenues to achieve savings for energy efficiency programs. Under V2.1, the DLC proposes to add the following product types to the list of eligible horticultural fixtures: