A-E renewable terms
A
- AR5: Allocation Round five
B
- BAU Demand: Business As Ususal Demand (normal)
- BECCS: Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage
- BESS: Battery Energy Storage System
- Blue hydrogen: Derived from natural gas, the CO2 emissions are captured to either be used in industrial processes or stored underground using carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)
- BM: Balancing Market
- BSC: the Balancing and Settlement Code
C
- CAPEX: CAPital EXpenditure
- CBA: Cost Benefit Analysis
- CBAM: Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism
- CCC: Committee on Climate Change
- CCS: Carbon Capture and Storage
- CCUS: Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage
- CID: Consents Issue Date
- CRM: Capacity Remuneration Mechanism
- CfD: The Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme is the UK Government’s main mechanism for supporting low-carbon electricity generation.
- Constraint: A restriction on the operation of the grid. Constraints can be due to factors such as transmission capacity, resource availability, or regulatory requirements, and they influence how electricity is generated, transmitted, and consumed.
- COP: heat pump (HP) measurement Coefficient of Performance
- CPPA: Corporate Power-Purchase Agreements
- Curtailment: Curtailment refers to the reduction or interruption of electricity generation or consumption due to grid constraints or excess supply, to maintain the stability and reliability of the electrical system.
D
- DS3: Delivering a Secure Sustainable Electricity System
- DG: Distributed Generation, defined by Ofgem as “electricity generation which is connected to the distribution network rather than the high voltage transmission network”.
- DMAPs: Designated Maritime Area Plans
- Dunkelflaute: a period of time in which little to no electricity can be generated with the use of wind and solar power.
E
- ECP: Enduring Connection Policy
- ESO: Electricity System Operator
- EV: Electric Vechile
- Energy Strategy: published in December 2021 by the Department for the Economy.
K-O renewable terms
K
L
- LCCC: Low Carbon Contracts Company
- LCOE: The Levelised Cost of Electricity is the discounted lifetime cost of building and operating a generation asset, expressed as a cost per unit of electricity generated (£/MWh). It covers all relevant costs faced by the generator, including pre-development, capital, operating, fuel and financing costs.
- LCTA: Least Cost Technically Acceptable
- LDS: Long-Duration Storage
- LDES: Long Duration Energy Storage
- LTE: Lifetime Extension
M
- MEC: Maximum Export Capacity
- MtCO2: Metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalen
- MW or MWh: A battery has two functions – MW is power and MWh is energy – power is the amount of electricity that could be produced at a given moment whereas energy is how much electricity electricity it delivers over a period of time. So 1MW running continuously for one full hour produces 1MWh. If it was only able to run for 30 mins it would be 0.5MWh
N
- NIRO: Northern Ireland Renewable Obligation scheme (closed)
- NPF: Non price factors
O
- OMS: Order Management Systems
- OPEX: Operational Expenditure
- ORESS: Offshore renewable electicity subsidy scheme
- Oversupply: oversupply refers to the excess supply of energy on the grid a at given time
- O&M: Operations and Maintenance
F-J renewable terms
F
- FAQ: Firm Access Quantities
Firm Access means that if the output on to the grid by a particular generator is changed by the Transmission Operator due to a network limitation (known as ‘constraint’), then it may be eligible for financial compensation as set out in the Trading & Settlement Code (From SONI Ltd) - Feed-In Tariffs (FIT):Government scheme to promote the uptake of renewable and low-carbon electricity generation. It requires participating licensed electricity suppliers to make payments on electricity generated and exported by accredited installations.
G
- GCA: Grid Connection Assessment
- GFS: Grid Feasibility Scenarios
- GHG: Greenhouse gases
- Grey Hydrogen: Greated from natural gas, or methane, using steam methane reformation but without capturing the CO2 made in the process.
- Green Hydrogen: Produced by splitting water using electrolysis that has been powered by renewable energy sources such as wind or solar. This is the cleanest type of hydrogen as CO2 is not produced as a by-product.
H
- HICP: Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices
- HP: Heat Pump
I
- Indexation: Indexation is the adjustment of finances (such as payments) to a index, usually to account for inflation.
- ION: Interim Operational Notification
- IPCC: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.
- I-SEM: Integrated Single Electricity Market
- ISCC: Installed Sychronous Condenser Capacity
- ISEA: Irish Solar Energy Association
- IRENA: International Renewable Energy Agency
J
P-Z renewable terms
P
- Pink Hydrogen: Generated through electrolysis powered by nuclear energy. Nuclear-produced hydrogen can also be referred to as purple hydrogen or red hydrogen.
- PPA: Purchase Power Agreement
- POR: Primary Operating Reserve
- PSO: Public Service Obligation
- PV: solar panel/ Photovoltaics
Q
R
- RES: Renewable Energy Sources
- RES-E: Renewable Energy Sources – electricity
- REFIT: Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff
- RESS: Renewable Electricity Support Scheme
- ROCs: Renewable Obligation Scheme
- RTE: Round Trip Efficiency
- RtM: Route to Market
S
- SEF: Strategic Energy Framework
- SONI: System Operator for Northern Ireland
- Small scale: renewable project between 1-5MW
- Support term: Refers to the duration for which financial incentives or subsidies are provided
T
- TDPNI: Transmission Development Plan
- TEC: Transmission Energy Capacity
- TUoS: Transmission Use of System charges
- TSO: Transmission system operator
- T&I: Transportation and Installation
U
- UAEC: Unrealised Available Energy Compensation
V
W
- WACC: Weighted Average Cost of Capital
- WEGS: Wind Energy Development Guidelines
- WEI: Wind Energy Ireland
- WTG: Wind Turbine Generator
XYZ
Do you have any other renewable acronyms and terms from the renewable industry that would be helpful? Email web@renewableni.com for inclusion in the RenewableNI glossary.
Useful links
Please note, these are external pages and not maintained by RenewableNI.
Northern Ireland’s Energy Strategy
Energy Strategy Action Plan, published January 2022.