Wind Today - Q4 2008 - (Page 87) Glossary Wind Today’s glossary includes selected terms found in articles and reports related to the wind industry, with their definitions, as well as acronyms found in Wind Today articles with the words and titles they represent. A more extensive glossary of terms and acronyms is available at www.windtoday.net. AC Alternating Current. A type of electrical current, the direction of which is reversed at regular intervals or cycles. In the United States, the standard is 120 reversals or 60 cycles per second. FERC Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Generating Capacity Rated or peak power of a wind turbine or the sum of the rated or peak power of all wind turbines in an array in watts. Grid Layout of the electrical transmission system; a network of transmission lines and the associated substations and other equipment required to move power. Interconnection Agreement. A legally binding document that defines the technical and contractual terms under which a generator can interconnect and deliver energy to a transmission operating utility’s system. IA Availability Used to describe reliability. It refers to the number of hours the resource is available to provide service divided by the total hours in the year. Base Load The minimum amount of electric power delivered or required over a given period of time at a steady rate, or the portion of the electricity demand that is continuous and does not vary over a 24-hour basis. Base Load Capacity The generating equipment normally operated to serve loads on a 24-hour basis. BLM Bureau of Land Management Installed (or Nameplate) Capacity The rated power of a wind turbine. Independent of actual generation or capacity factor. Interconnection The system that connects a distributed generation resource to the grid. ISO Independent System Operator Capacity Factor A measure of the productivity of a wind turbine, calculated by the amount of power that a wind turbine produces over a set period of time, divided by the amount of power that would have been produced if the turbine had been running at full capacity during that same time interval. Certificate of Need A legal document issued by a federal or state regulatory agency with authority over a company or area’s proposed acquisition, expansion, or creation of a facility. Demand The rate at which energy is used by the customer, or the rate at which energy is flowing through a particular system element, usually expressed in kilowatts or megawatts. DC Direct Current. A type of electricity transmission and distribution by which electricity flows in one direction through the conductor, usually relatively low voltage and high current. To be used for typical 120 volt or 220 volt household appliances, DC must be converted to alternating current, its opposite. Investor-Owned Utility A class of utility whose stock is publicly traded and which is organized as a taxpaying business, usually financed by the sale of securities in the capital market. It is regulated and authorized to achieve an allowed rate of return. Leading Edge The edge of a blade that faces toward the direction of rotation. Line Losses Energy loss due to resistive heating in transmission lines, and to a lesser extent, in distribution feeder circuits. The energy loss is proportional to the square of the total current flow, which is in turn determined by both the real and reactive power flowing on the line. Line losses are also proportional to the resistance of the wire, which increases as the wire gets hotter. MOMO Management of Operations & Maintenance OASIS Open Access Same-Time Information System Municipal Utility A utility owned by a city to supply utility services to residents in that city. OATT Open Access Transmission Tariffs Power Factor The ratio of actual power being used in a circuit, expressed in watts or kilowatts, to the power that is apparently being drawn from a power source, expressed in volt-amperes or kilovolt-amperes. Reactive Power Support The production of reactive power to maintain stability on the transmission system. Power on the system comes in two main types: the first is the power that is actually delivered to end users, and the second is reactive power, which is power provided to the system to maintain the system, rather than for end-use consumption. Supervisory Control Supervisory control refers to equipment that allows for remote control of a substation’s functions or a distributed generation resource from a system control center or other point of control. Transmission Lines High-voltage power lines used to move electricity over relatively long distances from a power generation facility to a substation or other distribution point. VARS Volt-Ampere Reactive system Distribution Lines Low-voltage power lines used to distribute electricity over relatively short distances from a power generation facility or substation to consumers. Dual Protection Systems Two systems using totally different protection schemes Electric Cooperative A form of utility in which all users own shares. Electric Grid A system of transmission and distribution lines connecting synchronized power providers and consumers. Interconnects and facilitates the distribution of electricity to consumers. Electric Utility An entity that owns and/or operates facilities for the generation, transmission, distribution, or sale of electric energy to the public. Usually operates with some form of legal monopoly over the electric services in the geographic area. EHV EIS Extra High Voltage Environmental Impact Statement Queue Squatting The practice of submitting projects for which developers are speculating and don’t yet have land or permits in order to secure a place in the queue. Some definitions collected from various on-line sources. 87 http://www.windtoday.net
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