Glossary
A
| AESO | Alberta Electric System Operator, or the entity resonsible for managing the Interconnected Electric System for the province of Alberta, Canada |
B
| Baseload | Units that consistently run providing a reliable amount of power |
| BCF | Billion cubic feet, a unit of volume describing often large quantities of liquid such as water or natural gas |
| Binding Constraint | Constraint that does not allow any incremental power to flow after hitting the limit |
| BOM | Balance of Month contract which trades based on the remaining days in the month |
C
| CAISO | California Independent System Operator, or an Independent System Operator (ISO) that serves the state of California |
| Capacity Factor | Average of some unit over a period of time divided by the max value for the same time period |
| Capacity Market | Generally a 3-4 year forward market to procure additonal generation in order to have an adequate supply |
| CDD | Cooling Degree Days |
| Clean Spark Spread | Approximation of profits to gas generation after carbon costs are deducted |
| Coal to gas switching | The movement away from coal generation towards gas as a result of gas generation buildout |
| Congestion | The result of a bottleneck that restricts flows |
| Cumulative Capacity Factor | Average of some unit over a period of time divided by the max value over a longer period of time (acronym – CCF) |
D
| Dark Spread | Approximation of profits from coal generation similar to the spark spread |
| DART | Day ahead minus real time LMPs |
| DC Transmission Line | The transmission line that connects the Pacific Northwest to Southern California |
| DSW | Desert Southwest power region |
E
| EIA | U.S. Energy Information Administration, or an agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System that is responsible for collecting and analyzing energy information |
| ERCOT | Electric Reliablity Council of Texas, or an Independent System Operator (ISO) that serves the state of Texas |
| Evening Ramp | Block of hours between HE 17 and HE 22 |
F
| FC | Forecast |
| Fish Spill | Amount of water that is being allocation to non-turbine flow tied to the regional fish requirements |
| Flex Ramp | The period of time between the midday hours (12-3) and the evening ramp hours (18-21) |
| Forebay Elevation | The elevation of the pool of water held behind a dam |
| Fuel Oil | No.2 or No.6 oil that is used to fuel electric generation |
G
| Gas to Oil switching | Moving from gas generation to oil generation generally caused by pipeline constraints or thermal generation moving beyond the gas stack |
H
| HDD | Heating Degree Days |
| HR | A measure of generation efficiency measured in Btus; This can also be derived for gas generation by dividing power prices by gas prices |
| Hydro Electricity | Generation produced from water moving through a dam’s turbine |
I
| IESO | Independent Electric System Operator, or an Independent System Operator (ISO) for the province of Ontario, Canada |
| Intertie | Transmission interconnection between two balancing authorities |
| ISO | Independent System Operators, or an organization formed at the direction or recommendation of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that is responsible for coordinating, controlling, and monitoring the operation of an electrical power system; ISOs typically perform the same functions as RTOs, but often cover a small geographic area and have a nuanced differences in responsibilities |
| ISO-NE | An alternative abreviation for NEISO, or New England Independent System Operators; NEISO is an Independent System Operator (ISO) that serves Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont |
K
| kcfs | Thousand cubic feet per second – unit used in hydro flow dialogue; This is the most common unit of measurement for flows into and out of a hydro project as a rate |
L
| LF | Load Factor, or the average load over a period of time divided by the peak load during the same time period |
| LMP | Location Marginal Price, or the cost to buy or sell electricity with diferent ISOs and RTOs |
| LNG | Liquefied natural gas, a form of natural gas that has been cooled down to liquid form to allow for safer transportation |
| LOM | Lack of Market Spill, or a hydro spill that entities do when the market price is below (or close to) zero |
M
| MAF | Million Acre Feet, or a unit used to detail the total amount of snowpack that is up in the mountains; This is the most common unit of measurement for river flows or water in storage as a volume; When used for flows, most typically refers to the volume of water over the period from January to July |
| Marginal Unit | Denotes that these units are setting prices for the market |
| MCC | Marginal Congestion Component |
| MidC | Region tied to the Pacific Northwest, actively traded power hub |
| Midday Period | Block of hours between HE 10 and HE 16 |
| MISO | Midcontinent Independent System Operator or an Independent System Operator (ISO) that serves all or parts of the Midwest United States, Manitoba of Canada, and a southern United States region; The US states served includes but is not limited to all or parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana |
| MLC | Marginal Loss Component |
| Morning Period | Block of hours between HE 7 and HE 9 |
| MTD | Month To Date, an aggregate of data from the start of the current month until today |
N
| Needle Peak | Block of hours when the power demand is at its highest |
| NEISO | New England Independent System Operators, or an Independent System Operator (ISO) that serves Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont |
| Net Load | Total demand minus solar and wind generation |
| Net Thermal Load | Total demand minus renewables (wind, solar and hydro), nuclear and any other non coal and natural gas power generation; The purpose of this netting is to get down to coal and natural gas powered generation |
| NG | Natural Gas, a type of fossil fuel that is a major source of electric power generation in the United States |
| NP15 | North of Path 15 |
| NYISO | New York Independent System Operator, or an Independent System Operator (ISO) that serves the state of New York |
O
| On Margin | Denotes that these units are setting prices for the market |
| ORDC | Operating Reserve Demand Curve (ERCOT market) |
P
| Path 15 | Transmission path that connects Northern to Central California |
| Path 26 | Transmission path that connects Central to Southern California |
| Peaker | Less efficient generation that is called on to solve peak demand |
| PJM | PJM Interconnection LLC, or a Regional Transmission Organiztion (RTO) in the United States that serves all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia |
| PNW | Pacific Northwest power region |
| PPA | Power Purchase Agreement, or a contract between a buyer and a seller that defines the terms for the sale of power |
R
| Ratepayer | Residential customers that end up paying for additional regulation |
| REC | Renewable Energy Certificate, or a certificate that represents possesion of the non-power attributes of one megawatt hour’s worth energy that was generated from a renewable source |
| Regulated Flows | Actual observed river flows, often measured at Grand Coulee, Lower Granite, or The Dalles dams |
| River Basin | We divide the PNW hydro system into different basins or collections of projects by region; See FAQ section question for more detailed table and map |
| RT/DA LMP | Real Time / Day Ahead Locational Margin Prices (See LMP); Day Ahead prices settle the day before the operating day, allowing power to be bought and sold well in advance and with lower volatility; Real Time LMPs settle at many points during the operation day, allowing power to be bought and sold based on current supply and demand |
| RTO | Regional Transmission Organization, or an organization formed at the direction or recommendation of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that is responsible for coordinating, controlling, and monitoring the operation of an electrical power system; RTOs typically perform the same functions as ISOs, but often cover a larger geographic area and have a nuanced differences in responsibilities |
S
| Shadow Prices | Prices that are a result of some sort of grid balancing that gives a person insight to what will impact the overall price action |
| Shoulder Season | Spring and Fall when demand on generation is generally low |
| SP15 | South of Path 26 |
| Spark spread | Approximation of the money that would be collected by efficient gas generation; Assuming a heat rate for gas generation this is: LMP – gas price * HR |
| Spill | Term used in the hydro setting to describe how much water (in kcfs) |
| SPP | Southwest Power Pool, or a Regional Transmission Organiztion (RTO) in the United States that serves all of parts of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming |
| Summer Season | The months between April and October, used in the natural gas world for power demand (AC) load |
| Super Peak | Block of hours between HE 15 and HE 18 |
| Supply stack | The group of generation running composed of all units online |
T
| Transmission | Electrical wires that are able to move electricity from one point to another |
U
| Unregulated Flows | This refers to river flows attributed only to precipitation and snow melt; Estimates of unregulated flows adjust for dam operations such as stored/released reservoir water and are intended to reflect what actual river flows would have been if dams were not present |
W
| Winter Season | The months between November and March, used in the natural gas world for residential demand |
Z
| ZP26 | Zone created to get between Path 15 and Path 26 in California’s Independent System Operation set-up |