Please use the left navigation bar to access smart grid acronyms alphabetically.

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. Source: DOE

ACEEE

American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy - A nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy security, and environmental protection. ACEEE's program areas include energy policy, research, and communications. Source: ACEEE

ACORE

American Council on Renewable Energy - A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. with paying members from every aspect nd sector of the renewable energy industries and their trade associations, including wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and biofuels, hydropower tidal/current energy and waste energy. With a focus on trade, finance and policy, ACORE promotes all renewable energy options for the production of electricity, hydrogen, fuels and end-use energy through publishing initiatives and publicizing strategic communications programs. Source: ACORE

ACSE

Association Control Service Element - The OSI method for establishing a call between two application programs. ACSE checks the identities and contexts of the application entities, and could apply an authentication security check. Source: OnlineDictionary

AEE

Association of Energy Engineers - A nonprofit professional society of over 13,000 members in 81 countries, founded in 1977. The mission of AEE is “to promote the scientific and educational interests of those engaged in the energy industry and to foster action for Sustainable Development.” Source: AEE

AEIC

Association of Edison Illuminating Companies - Founded by Thomas Edison and his associates, AEIC is one of the oldest associations in the electric energy industry. AEIC encourages research and the exchange of technical information through a committee structure, staffed with experts from management of member companies. AEIC provides highly valued literature on load research and underground cable specifications. Source: AEIC

AEO

Annual Energy Outlook - The Annual Energy Outlook from the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, presents a projection and analysis of US energy supply, demand, and prices. The projections are based on results from the Energy Information Administration's National Energy Modeling System. Source: EIA

AES

Advanced Encryption Standard - Specifies a FIPS-approved cryptographic algorithm that can be used to protect electronic data. The AES algorithm is a symmetric block cipher that can encrypt (encipher) and decrypt (decipher) information. Encryption converts data to an unintelligible form called ciphertext; decrypting the ciphertext converts the data back into its original form, called plaintext. Source: NIST

AESO

Alberta Electric System Operator - A not-for-profit entity, independent of any industry affiliations and owns no transmission or market assets. AESO is responsible for the safe, reliable and economic planning and operation of the Alberta Interconnected Electric System (AIES). Source: AESO

AESP

Association of Energy Services Professionals - Provides professional development programs, a network of energy practitioners, and promotes the transfer of knowledge and experience. AESP members work in the energy services industry and represent electric and natural gas utilities, public benefits associations, regulatory and non-profit entities, vendors, manufacturers and consulting firms. AESP is a member-driven organization that provides professional development and topic committees with the industry leaders, tools and information dedicated to advancing “best practices”, multiple educational, training, and networking opportunities. Source: AESP

AFUDC

Allowance for Funds used During Construction - Represents capitalized interest on funds devoted to construction projects. This capitalized interest flows through to the income statement and is considered other utility income in the year of capitalization. Source: ETDE World Energy Base

AGC

Automatic Generation Control - Equipment that automatically adjusts a Control Area's generation to maintain its interchange schedule plus its share of frequency regulation. Source: Energybuyer

AMI

Advanced Metering Infrastructure - A term denoting electricity meters that measure and record usage data at a minimum, in hourly intervals, and provide usage data to both consumers and energy companies at least once daily. Source: EIA

AMI-Ent TF

AMI Enterprise Task Force - A subgroup under the Smart Grid Systems working group of the Open Smart Grid (OpenSG) technical committee. Source: OpenSG

AMI-SEC TF

AMI Security Task Force
Source: OpenSG

AMR

Automated Meter Reading - A term denoting electricity meters that collect data for billing purposes only and transmit this data one way, usually from the customer to the distribution utility. Source: EIA

AMS

Advanced Meter System - A system, including Advanced Meters and the associated hardware, software, and communications devices, that collects time-differentiated energy usage and is deployed pursuant to P.U.C. SUBST. R. 25.130, Advanced Metering. Source: ERCOT

ANSI

American National Standards Institute - A 501(c)3 private, not-for-profit organization that empowers its members and constituents to strengthen the U.S. marketplace position in the global economy while helping to assure the safety and health of consumers and the protection of the environment. The Institute oversees the creation, promulgation and use of thousands of norms and guidelines that directly impact businesses in nearly every sector. Source: ANSI

API

Application Program Interface - A series of functions that programs can use to make the operating systems do their work. Using Windows APIs, for example, a program can open windows, files, and message boxes--as well as perform more complicated tasks--by passing a single instruction. Windows has several classes of APIs that deal with telephony, messaging, and other issues. Source: CNET

APPA

American Public Power Association - A non-profit, non-partisan, service organization for the nation's more than 2,000 community-owned electric utilities that serve more than 45 million Americans. Its purpose is to advance the public policy interests of its members and their consumers, and provide member services to ensure adequate, reliable electricity at a reasonable price with the proper protection of the environment. Source: Recovery

APU

Ancillary Power Unit

AREM

Alliance for Retail Energy Markets - A not for profit corporation that advocates for continued development of successful customer choice in retail energy markets and provides a focused voice for competitive energy retailers and their customers in selected public policy forums on the state level. The Alliance brings together many of the nation's leading retail energy suppliers, including Constellation NewEnergy, Direct Energy and Sempra Energy Solutions, collectively serving the majority of competitively served electric load in California. Source: AREM

ARRA

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was a direct response to the economic crisis, that attempts to address the three main goals of creating new jobs and save existing ones, spur economic activity and invest in long-term growth, and foster unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending. In order to achieve the goals the Recovery Act provides $288 billion in tax cuts and benefits for millions of working families and businesses, increases federal funds for education and health care as well as entitlement programs (such as extending unemployment benefits) by $224 billion, makes $275 billion available for federal contracts, grants and loans, and requires recipients of Recovery funds to report quarterly on how they are using the money. Source: ARRA

ASD

Adjustable Speed Drives - Drives that save energy by ensuring the motor's speed is properly matched to the load placed on the motor. Terms used to describe this category include polyphase motors, motor oversizing, and motor rewinding. Source: EIA

ASE

Alliance to Save Energy - A non-profit coalition of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders. The Alliance to Save Energy supports energy efficiency as a cost-effective energy resource under existing market conditions and advocates energy-efficiency policies that minimize costs to society and individual consumers, and that lessen greenhouse gas emissions and their impact on the global climate. To carry out its mission, the Alliance to Save Energy undertakes research, educational programs, and policy advocacy, designs and implements energy-efficiency projects, promotes technology development and deployment, and builds public-private partnerships, in the U.S. and other countries. Source: ASE

ASERTTI

Association of State Energy Research and Technology Transfer Institutions - A 501.c.3 organization supports the governors’ core energy agenda by increasing the effectiveness of energy research efforts in contribution to economic growth, environmental quality, and energy security. This is done this by collaborating on research projects with state, federal, and private partners and sharing technical and operational information among members and associates. Source: ASERTTI

ASHRAE

American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers - An international organization of 51,000 persons that seeks to fulfill its mission of advancing heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration to serve humanity and promote a sustainable world through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education. Source: ASHRAE

ASPRS

American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing - A scientific association serving over 7,000 professional members around the world. That seeks to fulfill its mission of advancing knowledge and improving understanding of mapping sciences to promote the responsible applications of photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and supporting technologies. Source: ASPRS