Citizen’s Glossary to the Energy Sector
Base-Load Power Plant: These run 80% of the time. It usually refers to
nuclear plants and larger and newer coal plants. However, geothermal and
concentrating solar plants with heat storage could also be considered baseload plants. Hydro-electric plants (dams) are also base-load. But no plant
runs 24/7 all year all the time. Nuclear units must be shut down ever 18
months for 1 or 2 months to switch out fuel. Coal units also need
maintenance and are shut down for extended periods of time if equipment
like scrubbers are added. Unscheduled outages occur as well when
something breaks down. Aging nuclear plants are vulnerable in this respect.
Community Choice Aggregation: Community choice aggregation (CCA)
is an energy procurement model that allows local governments to pool, or
“aggregate,” the electric load of their residents, businesses and institutions in
order to purchase electricity on their behalf. The reasons to pursue CCA vary
by community, but chief among them are lower electricity costs, cleaner
energy supply, greenhouse gas reduction benefits and the development of
local generation assets to boost economic development in the region.
Demandside Management (DSM), Demand Response, or Load Control:
The demandside means the customer’s electricity use or load on the electric
grid. DSM is a broad category that includes end-use energy efficiency and
load control. Utility companies, for example, can use equipment to remotely
turn off residential air conditioner compressors for short periods of time
during high electric demand in the summer, known as peak electric demand.
Utilities also have contracts with large industrial facilities to shut down
certain production processes during summer peak demand. This is called
load control. On the more sophisticated side, commercial buildings can use
building controls to control lighting and heating and air conditioning to
adjust their electric demand (use) to reduce daily electric peak demand
(during business hours). Soon home appliances will be equipped computer
chips that communicate with the smart grid or micro-grid to adjust output for
short durations depending on the grid’s electric demand. This is called
demand response.
Distributed Grid or Decentralized Grid Paradigm: This is an electric
grid structure dominated by electric generation at or near homes and
businesses dispersed throughout the local distribution system.
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Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (EEPS): A state or federal policy
(only at the state level now) whereby utility companies have to reduce their
electric demand through energy efficiency measures by a percent of their
total sales per year.
Externalities: These are the negative public health consequences and
environmental damage caused by the electric power sector that do not appear
in the ratepayer bill. Costs can be assigned to these impacts. The annual
externality costs of coal, for instance, range from about $170 to $500 billion.
These costs are born by the public and not by energy companies.
Feed-In Tariff: State, federal, or utility policy that pays customers for the
power they generate from solar PV. Generally a rate is set so that the
customer not only covers the cost of the panels but receives a profit on top of
that, much like ratepayers pay to utilities. Due to state/federal jurisdicational
issues, design of these programs at the state level can be complicated.
Paying a customer is akin to the wholesale market where the federal
government has jurisdiction.
Microgrid: Consists of a self-sufficient small distribution that can operate
independently from the transmission system or local distribution system.
College campuses, subdivisions, neighborhoods, government complexes,
military bases can all use a microgrid design.
Net Metering: State or public utility commission policy that allows
customers to connect solar PV to the distribution system and defray their
energy usage. The power they produce is reflected on their electric meter.
Customers are not paid. The benefit is in reducing their bills through using
less power.
Reliability: Is keeping the lights on by keeping the flow of electricity stable.
Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) or Renewable Energy Standard
or Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS): A state or federal policy (only at
the state level now with 29 states with an RES and 8 states for renewable
energy goals) whereby utility companies have to provide a percentage of
their power generation to customers with renewable power. RESs have been
the main drivers of renewable investment in the US.
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Resiliency: Is designing an electric grid that can withstand the changing
precipitation patterns, drought, and severe storms induced by climate
change. The modern grid design and micro-grids are much more resilient
than the obsolete electric grid design, for example.
Smart Grid: This is the telecommunications technology that goes into
creating the modern electric grid or micro-grid. It is characterized by twoway communication between the grid operator and the customer (home or
business) so that electric generation and electric demand can be properly
balanced to maintain grid reliability (keeping the lights on).
Subsidies: Subsidies are taxpayer dollars designated to support an energy
technology or industry. They are in the form of taxpayer funded research
and development at the DOE, tax credits or deductions. Historically, the
fossil fuel and nuclear industries have received the bulk of taxpayer support
in the US. However, solar PV and wind technology will soon not need
taxpayer support while coal-fired power and nuclear power cannot survive
without it.
Third Party Financing: This generally pertains to solar PV. Some
companies like SolarCity install panels on homes and businesses at no
upfront charge and the owner pays the third party financier through savings
on the bill.
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