Smart Grids Roadmap - Smart Grid Sherpa

GlossaryCritical peak pricing (CPP): A tariff structure inwhich time-of-use prices are in effect except forcertain peak days, when prices may reflect thecosts of generating and/or purchasing electricity atthe wholesale level.Cyber security: Effective strategies for protectingthe privacy of smart grid related data and forsecuring the computing and communicationnetworks that will be central to the performanceand availability of the envisioned electric powerinfrastructure.Demand response (DR): Changes in electricityusage by customers in response to alterations inthe price of electricity, or incentives designed toinduce lower electricity use when system reliabilityis jeopardised or to increase consumption whengeneration from renewable sources is high. Demandresponse can be performed manually by the enduseror automatically based on predefined settings.Time-of-use pricing (TOU): A tariff structure inwhich electricity prices are set for a specific timeperiod on an advance or forward basis, typicallynot changing more often than twice a year. Pricespaid for energy consumed during these periodsare pre-established and known to consumers inadvance, allowing them to vary their usage inresponse to such prices and manage their energycosts by shifting usage to a lower cost period orreducing their consumption overall.Transmission: The transfer of bulk energyproducts from where they are produced orgenerated to distribution lines that carry theenergy products to consumers.Variable renewables: Technologies such aswind, solar PV, run of river hydro and tidal whereproduction of electricity is based on climaticconditions and therefore cannot be dispatchedbased on a need for additional power alone.Distribution: The transfer of electricity from thetransmission system to the end-use customer.Electric utilities: Enterprises engaged in theproduction, transmission and/or distribution ofelectricity for use by the public, including investorownedelectric utility companies; cooperativelyowned electric utilities; and government-ownedelectric utilities.Flexibility: The capability of a power system tomaintain reliable supply by modifying productionor consumption in the face of rapid and largeimbalances, such as unpredictable fluctuations indemand or in variable generation. It is measured interms of megawatts (MW) available for ramping upand down, over time.Generation: The process of producing electricenergy or the amount of electric energy producedby transforming other forms of energy, commonlyexpressed in kilowatt hours (kWh) or megawatthours (MWh).Real-time pricing (RTP): A tariff structure inwhich electricity prices may change as often ashourly (exceptionally more often). A price signalis provided to the user on an advanced or forwardbasis, reflecting the utility’s cost of generating and/or purchasing electricity at the wholesale level.Renewables: Resources that derive energynatural processes that are replenished constantly.Renewable energy resources include biomass,hydro, geothermal, solar, wind, ocean thermal,wave action and tidal action.Regional definitionsAfricaAlgeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso,Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central AfricanRepublic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, DemocraticRepublic of Congo,Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt,Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon,Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya,Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali,Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique,Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Réunion, Rwanda, SãoTomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, SierraLeone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland,the United Republic of Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia,Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.Central and South America (CSA)Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas,Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile,Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, DominicanRepublic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana,Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti,Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, the NetherlandsAntilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St.Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent-Grenadines and Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago,Uruguay and Venezuela.Glossary45© OECD/IEA, 2010