AARTIS - Arizona Renewable Resource and Transmission Identification Subcommittee
ACC - Arizona Corporation Commission - www.cc.state.az.us
ACE - Area Control Error
ACORE - American Council on Renewable Energy - www.acore.org
AEP - American Electric Power - www.aep.com
AGC - Automatic Generation Control
AMI - Advanced metering infrastructure
APS - Arizona Pubic Service - www.aps.com
ARRA - The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus bill) - http://www.recovery.gov/
ATC - Available Transmission Capacity (i.e., that not reserved under contract)
AWEA - American Wind Energy Association www.awea.org
BA - Balancing Area or sometimes referred to as Balancing Area Authority (BAA).
Balancing Areas are responsible for maintaining system frequency at 60 Hz. Many western utilities operate their own BAs. Having many small Balancing Areas undermines reliability, because of imperfect coordination across the seams among them. It also imposes unnecessary costs, because each BA is required to carry reserve generating capacity. Larger BAs would eliminate much of this redundant capacity.
BAA - Balancing Authority Area (formerly known as Control Areas). Also sometimes abbreviated to BA or Balancing Area.
BART - Best Available Retrofit Technology
BETC - Business Energy Tax Credit
BLM -
Bureau of Land Management www.blm.gov
BMP - Best Management Practice
BPA - Bonneville Power Administration www.bpa.gov
BTA - Biennial Transmission Assessment (Arizona)
CAISO - California Independent System Operator www.caiso.com
CATS - Central Arizona Transmission Study
CCPG - Colorado Coordinated Planning Group
CCS - Carbon capture and sequestration
CEDA -
Colorado’s Clean Energy Development Authoritywww.colorado.gov/energy/utilities/clean-energy-development-authority.asp
CEM - Continuous monitoring system
CFE - Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad www.cfe.gob.mx/es/
CLRTPG - Colorado Long Range Transmission Planning Group (of CCPG)
CPCN - Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity
CPUC - California Public Utilities Commission www.cpuc.ca.gov
CREPC - Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation
www.westgov.org/wieb/site/crepcpage/crepupco.htm
CREZ - Competitive Renewable Energy Zone
CRTS - Colorado River Transmission Study
CTPG - California Transmission Planning Group
DOE - U.S. Department of Energy
www.energy.gov
DRECP - Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (California)
EEC - Ely Energy Center
EHV - Extra-high voltage
EIM - Energy Imbalance Market
An Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) is a proposed market that would enable greater and more efficient sharing of electrical balancing resources between BAs. Key features of an EIM include efficient use of balancing resources between participating balancing authorities, optimized use of transmission assets between balancing areas, and the ability to efficiently accommodate Variable Energy Resources (VERs) such as solar and wind resources.
EIR - Environmental Impact Report
EN-TI - Eastern Nevada Transmission Intertie (proposed by NV Energy)
ERE - NARUC Committee on Energy Resources and Environment
ESP - Energy Supply Plan
ESS - Electricity Service Supplier
EWG -
Environmental Work Group (of RETI)or Energy Working Group (of WGA)
FERC - Federal Energy Regulatory Commission -
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, is an independent agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. FERC also reviews proposals to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and interstate natural gas pipelines as well as licensing hydropower projects. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 gave FERC additional responsibilities as outlined in FERC's Top Initiatives and updated Strategic Plan.
FIT - Feed-in tariff: policy mechanism designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies. It achieves this by offering long-term contracts to renewable energy producers, typically based on the cost of generation of each technology.Technologies such as wind power, for instance, are awarded a lower per-kWh price, while technologies such as solar PV and tidal power are offered a higher price, reflecting higher costs.
FOA - Funding Opportunity Announcement
GADS - Generation Availability Data Systems (NERC)
GBT - Great Basin Transmission
GEA - Geothermal Energy Association
GHG - greenhouse gases
GIPR - Generation Interconnection Process Reform (of CAISO)
GIS - Geographic Information System
GOED - Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development
GRAC - Generating Resource Advisory Committee (of NPCC)
HAWG - Historical Analysis Workgroup (of the TEPPC TAS)
HTC - Hydro-Thermal Co-optimization
IA - Interconnection agreement
IEA - Interwest Energy Alliance www.interwest.org
IOU - investor-owned utility
IPC - Idaho Power Company
www.idahopower.com
IRP - Integrated Resource Plan - A method for looking ahead using environmental, engineering, social, financial and economic considerations; includes using the same criteria to evaluate both supply and demand options while involving customers and other stakeholders in the process. (may also be known as Least Cost Planning)
IRRP - Integration of Renewable Resources Program (of CAISO)
ITAP - Intra-Hour Transaction Accelerator Platform (being developed by
WestConnect and NTTG; will facilitate integration of renewables)
JGC - Joint Guidance Committee (of WECC)
LBNL - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory www.lbl.gov
LCOE - Levelized Cost of Energy
LCRIF - Location Constrained Resource Interconnection Facilities (in CAISO)
LGIP - Large Generator Interconnection Procedure (CAISO)
LSE - load-serving entity
LTPTTF - Long-Term Planning Tools Task Force
(of TEPPC’s TAS)
MISO - Midwest Independent System Operator www.midwestiso.org
MWG - Modeling Work Group (of TEPPC’s TAS)
NARUC - National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
www.naruc.org
NERC - The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) mission is to ensure the reliability of the North American bulk power system. NERC is the electric reliability organization (ERO) certified by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to establish and enforce reliability standards for the bulk power system. NERC develops and enforces reliability standards; assesses adequacy annually via a 10-year forecast, and summer and winter forecasts; monitors the bulk power system; and educates, trains and certifies industry personnel. ERO activities in Canada related to the reliability of the bulk power system are recognized and overseen by the appropriate governmental authorities in that country.
http://www.nerc.com/
NIMBY - Not in my back yard
Non-wires - BPA definition: "none-wires solutions are any demand response, distributed generation, conservation measure, generation siting and pricing strategies that individually or in combination delay or eliminate need for upgrades to transmission system."
NOS - Network open service
NPC - Nevada Power Company
www.nvenergy.com
NPCC - Northwest Power and Conservation Council www.nwcouncil.org
NRDC - Natural Resources Defense Council -an environmental action group, combining the grassroots power of 1.3 million members and online activists with the courtroom clout and expertise of more than 350 lawyers, scientists and other professionals.
NRDC has office in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing - http://www.nrdc.org/
NREL - National Renewable Energy Laboratory www.nrel.gov
NTTG - Northern Tier Transmission Group www.nttg.biz
NWCC - National Wind Coordinating Collaborative www.nationalwind.org
OASIS - Open Access Same Time Information System
OATT - Open Access Transmission Tariff
ODOE - Oregon Department of Energy www.oregon.gov/ENERGY
ON Line - One Nevada transmission line project, being developed by LS Power and NV
Energy. It will connect northern and southern NV for the first time.
OPUC - Oregon Public Utility Commission www.puc.state.or.us
PAC - PacifiCorp
www.pacificorp.com
PCC - Planning Coordination Committee (of WECC)
PD - Proposed Decision
PEFA - ColumbiaGrid’s Planning and Expansion Functional Agreement
PEIS - Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
PG&E - Pacific Gas and Electric
www.pge.com
PGE - Portland General Electric www.portlandgeneral.com
PIER - Public Interest Energy Research www.energy.ca.gov/research
PIRP - Participating Intermittent Resources Program (California)
PMA - The Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) are four federal agencies within the Department of Energy responsible for marketing hydropower—primarily excess power produced by federal dams and projects operated by the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. The four federal PMAs, which market and distribute power to 60 million people in 34 states, are required to give preference to public utility districts and cooperatives, and sell their power at cost-based rates.
POR/POD - Point of Receipt/Point of Delivery
POU - Publicly-owned utility
PPA - Power purchase agreement
PRPA - Platte River Power Authority
www.prpa.org
PSG - Plenary Stakeholder Group (of CA RETI)
PTO - Participating Transmission Owner (CAISO)
PUC - State public utility commission
PUCN - Public Utilities Commission of Nevada http://pucweb1.state.nv.us/pucn/
PURPA - Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act
The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) is a law, passed in 1978 by the United States Congress as part of the National Energy Act. It is meant to promote greater use of domestic renewable energy. The law forced regulated, natural monopoly electric utilities to buy power from other more efficient producers, if that cost was less than the utility's own "avoided cost" rate to the consumer; the avoided cost rate was the additional costs that the electric utility would incur if it generated the required power itself, or if available, could purchase its demand requirements from another source. At the time generally, where demand was growing, this was considered to be the construction and fossil fuel costs incurred in the operation of another thermal power plant. This free market approach presented investment opportunity and government encouragement for more development of environment-friendly, renewable energy projects and technologies; the law created a market in which non-utility Independent Power Producers developed, and some energy market players failed.
For more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PURPA
PV - Photovoltaic (generation)
RE - Renewable energy
REDI - Colorado’s Renewable Energy Development Infrastructure
RES - Renewable Energy Standard
RETAAC - Renewable Energy Transmission Access Advisory Committee (NV)
RETI - California Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative
www.energy.ca.gov/reti
RETPP - Renewable Energy Transmission Planning Process (proposed in CA)
REZ - Renewable energy zone
RFI - Request for Information
RMATS - Rocky Mountain Area Transmission Study
RMS - Reliability Management System - a contract voluntarily entered into by WECC and various entities in the Western Interconnection. This contract obligates entities to abide by certain critical reliability standards and to provide the data needed to verify compliance. The contract also imposes sanctions, both monetary and non-monetary according to a set schedule, for violations of reliability criteria.
Currently all control areas but one are signatories to the RMS agreement, and 92% of the customer load in the Western Interconnection is served under RMS.
RNP - Renewable Northwest Project
www.rnp.org
ROD - Record of Decision
RPS - Renewable Portfolio Standard
RTEP - Regional Transmission Expansion Planning
RTO - Regional transmission organization
SATS - Southern Arizona Transmission Study
SCADA - Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
SCE - Southern California Edison Company www.sce.com
SDG&E - San Diego Gas & Electric
www.sdge.com
SEIA - Solar Energy Industries Association www.seia.org
SPG - Sub-regional Planning Group
SPPC - Sierra Pacific Power Company www.nvenergy.com
SPSC - State-Provincial Steering Committee (of WGA)
SPSG - Scenario Planning Steering Group (of RETP)
SRP - Salt River Project (UTILITY)
www.srpnet.com
SRP is two entities: the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District, a political subdivision of the state of Arizona; and the Salt River Valley Water Users' Association, a private corporation.
SSC - Stakeholder Steering Committee (of RETI)
SSPG - Sierra Subregional Planning Group
SWAT - Southwest Area Transmission (Subregional Planning Group for AZ-NM,
southern portions of Nevada, Utah and Colorado)
SWG - Studies Work Group (of TEPPC’s TAS)
SWIP - Southwest Intertie Project
(Southern Idaho to Las Vegas)
TAS - Technical Advisory Subcommittee (of TEPPC)
TEPPC - Transmission Expansion Planning Policy Committee (of WECC)
http://www.wecc.biz/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewp
ub&tid=4&pid=14
TP - Transmission Provider
UREZ - Utah Renewable Energy Zones
USDOE - U.S. Department of Energy www.energy.gov
USFS - U.S. Forest Service www.fs.fed.us
UWIG - Utility Wind Integration Group
www.uwig.org
VER - Variable Energy Resources (VERs) such as solar and wind resources.
VGS - Variable Generation Subcommittee
(of WECC’s JGC)
VSC - Voltage Source Converter
WAPA - Western Area Power Administration www.wapa.gov
WCEA - Western Clean Energy Advocates
WCPSC - Western Conference of Public Commissioners
WECC - Western Electricity Coordinating Council
WEIL - Western Electricity Industry Leaders http://www.weilgroup.org/
Western Interconnection - The Western Interconnection is one of the two major alternating current (AC) power grids in North America. The other major wide area synchronous grid is the Eastern Interconnection. The three minor interconnections are the Québec Interconnection, the Texas Interconnection, and the Alaska Interconnection.
All of the electric utilities in the Western Interconnection are electrically tied together during normal system conditions and operate at a synchronized frequency operating at an average of 60Hz. The Western Interconnection stretches from Western Canada South to Baja California in Mexico, reaching eastward over the Rockies to the Great Plains.
Interconnections can be tied to each other via high-voltage direct current power transmission lines (DC ties), or with variable frequency transformers (VFTs), which permit a controlled flow of energy while also functionally isolating the independent AC frequencies of each side. The Western Interconnection is tied to the Eastern Interconnection with six DC ties. It is not tied to the Alaska Interconnection.
WGA - Western Governors’ Association www.westgov.org
WGG - Western Grid Group
www.westerngrid.net
WIA, WYIA - Wyoming Infrastructure Authority www.wyia.org
WIEB - Western Interstate Energy Board www.westgov.org/wieb
WIRAB - Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body
www.westgov.org/wieb/site/wirab/wirabindex.htm
WIRES - Working Group for Investment in Reliable & Economic Electric Systems
www.wiresgroup.com
WIST - Columbia Grid/NTTG Wind Integration Study Team
WPA - Wind Powering America www.windpoweringamerica.gov
WRA - The purpose of the WRA Assessment is to provide land, wildlife and environmental advocate communities and the public with a feel for the magnitude of the renewable generating capacity and acres of land footprint needed to meet climate goals so that are equipped to weigh the net land, wildlife and resource benefits of developing central station renewables.
WREZ - Western Renewable Energy Zone http://www.westgov.org/
WTLG - Western Transmission Leadership Group (of NWCC)
WW&SIS - Western Wind and Solar Integration Study http://www.westconnect.com/
init_wwis.php
WWSIS - Western Wind & Solar Integration Study (of NREL)
ZITA - Zone Identification and Technical Analysis
(of WREZ)
