ETAP Maintenance & Compatibility

Learn about the ETAP SMA, file compatibility & legacy support


Software Maintenance Agreement

An ETAP Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) is the most cost-effective way to protect your ETAP investment including product upgrades and technical support.

Every ETAP software release represents thousands of hours of meticulous development aimed at providing enhanced capabilities, intelligence, and time-saving features for your projects.

Extending your software maintenance agreement is crucial to apply ETAP's ever-growing, improvements, unique features, and sophisticated analysis techniques to all your power system analysis projects.

With a valid SMA software maintenance support agreement, you will receive access to ETAP Help Center your hub for receiving ETAP online support and exploring the knowledgebase system, which provides a wealth of resources.

  • Free version upgrades including the ability to download the latest releases and service packs
  • Unlimited access to technical support
  • Comprehensive knowledge base, packed with informative articles to empower users with valuable education
  • Get support and stay ahead with prelease equipment library models, ensuring you have access to the most up-to-date library 
  • Access to pre-release and beta versions of new products and upgrades
  • Sessions & panel discussions from ETAP Digital Innovations conference and a chance for you to showcase solutions to industry challenges using ETAP software

The regular updates of ETAP we provide reflect our dedication to quality and investment in ongoing research and development. ETAP remains the most cutting-edge design, engineering, operation and automation solution on the market today. With each release, ETAP is enhanced with engineering intelligence, optimization features, and automation capabilities to save you time and money.

Contact sma@etap.com or (949) 900-1000 to receive more information on the many
great benefits offered in the ETAP Software Maintenance Agreement Contract.


ETAP File Compatibility

ETAP Files are always forward compatible. This means that a newer version of ETAP can read any file created with any earlier version of the program. ETAP Files include project databases, engineering device libraries, equipment warehouses, graphical visualization themes, engineering rulebooks, data exchange interfaces and many more.

With each release, ETAP is enhanced with engineering intelligence, optimization features, and automation capabilities to save you time and money. These enhancements are developed throughout the software ecosystem and help simplify the complex nature of the ever-evolving electric power and the digital software industry.

We are committed to maintaining forward compatibility from older ETAP releases to the latest versions. With the latest version of ETAP, you can open any ETAP file created in the versions identified below (see Support for Legacy Versions).
For projects created in earlier versions, you may still be able to open them using the latest ETAP release; however, this file transition is not supported under the ETAP Software Maintenance Agreement.
 

We highly recommend that our customers continue to migrate to and use the latest version of the software. This not only takes advantage of ETAP File compatibility but also leverages the latest software innovations and access to engineering support from our team of power engineering experts who passionately deliver those innovations, release after release.

Reminders

  • During an upgrade to a newer release, ETAP automatically backs up the older version of the ETAP project databases, equipment warehouses, rulebooks, and engineering libraries. The backup files are located in the folder they were accessed from, or a folder labeled ‘backup.’
  • If you transfer files between different locations and systems or computers, make sure they are running the same ETAP version and release, ideally the latest version.
  • Backwards compatibility is not supported. This ensures there is no loss of data when opening new project files in an older version and preserves data transformation integrity. If you decide to use an older version of ETAP, you will need to manually re-enter the data you have added to the upgraded or converted file into the old backup file.

Support for Legacy ETAP Versions

ETAP users with a valid Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) are entitled to technical support through the dedicated ETAP Help Center portal. This includes:


  1. Access to submit support tickets, download the latest ETAP versions, and browse knowledge base articles
  2. Technical Inquiries for supported ETAP versions
  3. Library Model Requests for supported ETAP versions (1)
  4. Upward Project conversion for supported ETAP versions
  5. Activation Code Requests for supported ETAP versions

Effective September 1, 2025, this support applies to the below listed versions according to Table 1 for Commercial Licenses and according to Table 2 for Nuclear Licenses.


Commercial VersionTechnical InquiriesLibrary SupportUpward Project ConversionActivation Code Requests
26.0.0C - 22.5.0CSupportedSupportedSupportedSupported
22.0.2C - 21.0.2CRetiring 09-01-2026Retiring 09-01-2026Retiring 09-01-2026Retiring 09-01-2026
All Earlier VersionsRetiredRetiredRetiredRetired

Table 1: Commercial Release Support


Nuclear VersionTechnical InquiriesLibrary SupportUpward Project ConversionActivation Code Requests *10 CFR Part 21 Reporting
24.0.3N - 19.0.1NSupportedSupportedSupportedSupportedSupported
18.1.1N - 14.0.0NRetiring 09-01-2026Retiring 09-01-2026Retiring 09-01-2026Retiring 09-01-2026Supported
All Earlier VersionsRetiredRetiredRetiredRetiredSupported

Table 2: Nuclear Release Support


(1) Library Model Request Notes:


  • Official verified & validated library models are exclusively available in the ETAP versions in which they were initially released.
  • Pre-released library models are developed and delivered in specific supported ETAP versions and cannot be converted to earlier versions.
  • Complete and acceptable OEM documentation must be submitted with each request.
  • Request prioritization and completion timelines are dependent on overall request volume and the existing development backlog.
  • Special requests to recreate models in earlier ETAP versions which satisfy modeling requirements will be subject to additional fees.
  • Redistribution of released or pre-released library models created by ETAP is strictly prohibited.
(2) New orders/additions are processed based on latest release only.