This is the consolidated glossary for the US Power Markets series, combining every abbreviation and technical term introduced across all four parts into a single cumulative reference. Terms are grouped by theme, with the part in which each set was introduced noted alongside the category. For the full analysis, see Part I (A Primer), Part II (Inflection), Part III (Rerating), and Part IV (vs Other Markets).
| REGULATORY & MARKET BODIES · Part I | |
| AD / CVD | Antidumping Duty / Countervailing Duty — trade remedies imposed by US Department of Commerce. |
| CAISO | California Independent System Operator. Runs California’s wholesale market. |
| ERCOT | Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Single-state ISO, outside FERC jurisdiction. |
| FERC | Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Regulates interstate wholesale power, transmission tariffs. |
| ISO / RTO | Independent System Operator / Regional Transmission Organisation. Non-profit grid operators. |
| MISO | Midcontinent Independent System Operator. 15 states across Midwest/South. |
| NERC | North American Electric Reliability Corporation. Sets mandatory reliability standards. |
| NYISO | New York Independent System Operator. |
| PJM | PJM Interconnection. Largest US RTO; 13 states + DC; named for Pennsylvania-NJ-Maryland origin. |
| PUC / PSC | Public Utility / Service Commission. State body that regulates retail utility rates. |
| SPP | Southwest Power Pool. 14 states across central plains. |
| MARKETS & PRICING · Part I | |
| BRA | Base Residual Auction. PJM’s primary forward capacity auction. |
| Capacity market | Forward auction procuring firm capacity to meet future peak demand plus reserve margin. |
| Day-ahead market | Wholesale market clearing one day before delivery, hourly granularity. |
| FCM | Forward Capacity Market (ISO-NE’s capacity construct). |
| Heat rate | Energy input per unit electricity output, typically Btu/kWh. Lower = more efficient. |
| Henry Hub | US benchmark natural gas pricing point, located in Louisiana. |
| ICAP / UCAP | Installed Capacity / Unforced Capacity. Installed nameplate vs. performance-adjusted. |
| LMP | Locational Marginal Price. Wholesale electricity price at a specific grid node. |
| MW / GW / TWh | Megawatt / Gigawatt (capacity); Terawatt-hour (energy = capacity × time). |
| PPA | Power Purchase Agreement. Long-term bilateral contract between generator and buyer. |
| Real-time market | Wholesale market clearing every 5–15 minutes against actual demand. |
| Reserve margin | Capacity above forecast peak load to handle outages and forecast error; NERC targets ~15–20%. |
| Spark spread | Gross margin of a gas plant: power price − (gas price × heat rate). |
| TECHNOLOGY & PHYSICAL · Part I | |
| BESS | Battery Energy Storage System. Almost always lithium-ion at utility scale today. |
| BWR / PWR | Boiling Water Reactor / Pressurised Water Reactor. Two dominant US nuclear designs. |
| CCGT | Combined-Cycle Gas Turbine. Brayton + Rankine cycles; 60%+ efficiency. |
| CCUS | Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage. |
| Capacity factor | Actual generation ÷ theoretical maximum at nameplate. Nuclear ~92%; wind 35–45%; solar 18–30%. |
| EHV | Extra-High Voltage. Transmission at 345 kV and above. |
| GOES | Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel. Silicon-iron alloy used in transformer cores. |
| GSU | Generator Step-Up transformer. Steps generator output voltage up for transmission. |
| HVDC | High-Voltage Direct Current. Used for long-distance transmission >500 miles. |
| IPP | Independent Power Producer. Merchant generator selling into wholesale market. |
| PV | Photovoltaic. Solar electricity from the photoelectric effect. |
| SMR (1) | Small Modular Reactor. Nuclear reactor <300 MWe, factory-fabricated. |
| SMR (2) | Steam Methane Reforming. Industrial route to grey/blue hydrogen. |
| T&D | Transmission and Distribution. |
| POLICY & FINANCE · Part I | |
| IIJA | Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 2021. Bipartisan infrastructure spending. |
| IRA | Inflation Reduction Act 2022. Largest US climate spending package. |
| IRP | Integrated Resource Plan. Long-term utility planning document, filed with state PUC. |
| ITC | Investment Tax Credit (§48 / §48E). Tax credit on capital cost of clean energy. |
| OBBBA | One Big Beautiful Bill Act 2025. Reset of IRA tax credits. |
| PTC | Production Tax Credit (§45 / §45Y). Tax credit per kWh of qualifying generation. |
| PUHCA | Public Utility Holding Company Act 1935. Broke up utility holding pyramids. |
| PURPA | Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act 1978. Required utility purchase from qualifying facilities. |
| Rate base | Depreciated book value of utility assets approved by PUC for cost-of-service recovery. |
| ROE | Return on Equity. Allowed by PUC, typically 9.0–10.5%. |
| MARKETS & DEMAND · Part II | |
| AEO | Annual Energy Outlook. EIA’s long-term US energy forecast, published annually. |
| BkWh | Billion kilowatt-hours. EIA’s preferred unit for national consumption (= TWh). |
| BNEF | BloombergNEF. Energy research and forecasting unit of Bloomberg. |
| Co-location | Direct connection of large load to generator at same site, bypassing grid interconnection. |
| STEO | Short-Term Energy Outlook. EIA’s monthly two-year forecast. |
| VPP | Virtual Power Plant. Aggregation of distributed resources providing grid services. |
| TECHNOLOGY & INFRASTRUCTURE · Part II | |
| BPA | Bonneville Power Administration. Federal Pacific Northwest hydro operator. |
| DLR | Dynamic Line Rating. Real-time conductor capacity assessment using temperature, weather. |
| EGS | Enhanced Geothermal System. Engineered reservoirs in hot dry rock. |
| FACTS | Flexible AC Transmission Systems. Power electronics for reactive power/voltage management. |
| FEOC / PFE | Foreign Entity of Concern / Prohibited Foreign Entity. OBBBA restrictions on China, Russia, Iran, DPRK. |
| LDES | Long-Duration Energy Storage. Multi-hour to seasonal storage (flow batteries, compressed air, hydrogen, iron-air). |
| NREL | National Renewable Energy Laboratory. US DOE research institution; produces ReEDS capacity expansion modelling. |
| ReEDS | Regional Energy Deployment System. NREL’s flagship capacity expansion model. |
| RTC+B | Real-Time Co-optimisation with Batteries. ERCOT’s storage-aware market design. |
| STATCOM / SVC | Static Synchronous Compensator / Static VAR Compensator. FACTS device categories. |
| TVA | Tennessee Valley Authority. Federal utility serving 10 million people in 7 SE states. |
| POLICY & INTERNATIONAL · Part II | |
| COP | Conference of the Parties. Annual UN climate summit under UNFCCC. |
| NCQG | New Collective Quantified Goal. COP29 finance target: $300B/year by 2035 from developed countries. |
| NDC | Nationally Determined Contribution. Country-level climate plan under Paris Agreement. |
| UAE Consensus | COP28 Dubai final text. First explicit call to “transition away from fossil fuels”. |
| UNFCCC | United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Treaty body convening COPs. |
| EQUITY & PORTFOLIO · Part III | |
| S5UTIL | S&P 500 Utilities sector index. Ticker for the GICS Utilities sub-index. |
| Forward P/E | Price-to-earnings ratio using next-twelve-month consensus EPS estimate. |
| GICS | Global Industry Classification Standard. S&P/MSCI sector classification framework. |
| Track (in this post) | Distinct equity exposure type within the portfolio framework; five used here. |
| HALEU | High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium. 5–20% U-235 enrichment level; required for many advanced reactors. |
| NNSA | National Nuclear Security Administration. US DOE agency overseeing nuclear weapons stockpile and defence nuclear fuel cycles. |
| UK / EU · Part IV | |
| ACER | Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators. EU-level energy regulator coordinator. |
| AR (AR7) | Allocation Round. UK CfD auction rounds. AR7 opened summer 2025. |
| CfD | Contracts for Difference. UK low-carbon support scheme: 15-year strike price for renewables/nuclear. |
| CISAF | Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework. EU 2025 framework consolidating capacity mechanism rules. |
| ENTSO-E | European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity. |
| ERAA | European Resource Adequacy Assessment. EU framework for system adequacy modelling. |
| NESO | National Energy System Operator. GB grid operator; public ownership since October 2024. |
| Ofgem | UK Office of Gas and Electricity Markets. National energy regulator. |
| REMA | Review of Electricity Market Arrangements. UK market design review (2022–25). Resulted in Reformed National Pricing. |
| RNP | Reformed National Pricing. UK programme launched July 2025 to reform single national market. |
| SDAC / SIDC | Single Day-Ahead Coupling / Single Intraday Coupling. EU cross-border market coupling algorithms. |
| SSEP | Strategic Spatial Energy Plan. UK planning framework, due end-2026. |
| TNUoS | Transmission Network Use of System. UK transmission charging regime. |
| TSO | Transmission System Operator. European equivalent of US RTO/ISO. |
| INDIA · Part IV | |
| CEA | Central Electricity Authority. India’s technical electricity planning body. |
| CERC | Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. Federal Indian electricity regulator. |
| Discom | Distribution company. Indian retail electricity utility; mostly state-owned, mostly loss-making. |
| GTAM | Green Term Ahead Market. India’s renewable-only spot market segment. |
| IEX | Indian Energy Exchange. Dominant Indian power exchange (~95% market share by volume). |
| NHPC / NTPC | National Hydroelectric / Thermal Power Corporations. India’s largest state-owned generators. |
| POSOCO | Power System Operation Corporation. Indian grid operator (renamed Grid Controller of India). |
| SECI | Solar Energy Corporation of India. Federal renewable energy procurement agency. |
| SERC | State Electricity Regulatory Commission. State-level Indian electricity regulators (28 total). |
| SHAKTI | Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala Transparently. India’s coal allocation policy framework. |
| VGF | Viability Gap Funding. Indian government subsidy mechanism, applied to BESS deployment. |
| CHINA / JAPAN · Part IV | |
| EGC | Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission. Japan’s electricity market regulator. |
| JEPX | Japan Electric Power Exchange. Japan’s wholesale power exchange. |
| METI | Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Japan’s lead energy policy ministry. |
| NDRC | National Development and Reform Commission. China’s top economic planning body, including energy. |
| NEA | National Energy Administration (China). Energy sub-agency under NDRC. |
| NRA | Nuclear Regulation Authority (Japan). Post-Fukushima independent nuclear safety regulator. |
| OCCTO | Organization for Cross-regional Coordination of Transmission Operators (Japan). Operates capacity market. |
| S+3E | Safety + Energy security, Economic efficiency, Environment. Japan’s energy policy framework. |
| SEP | Strategic Energy Plan. Japan’s multi-year energy policy framework; Seventh SEP finalised February 2025. |
| State Grid | State Grid Corporation of China. State-owned monopoly transmission/distribution operator (~88% of China). |
| TEPCO / KEPCO | Tokyo / Kansai Electric Power Companies. Japan’s two largest regional utilities. |