This glossary shares the terms used in the ElectronConnect platform and in platform communications.
Asset: An asset on ElectronConnect is an energy resource. There are two type of assets: "Discrete", distinct DERs which are large enough to participate individually such as a grid scale battery or onshore windfarm; and "Group", an aggregation of smaller resources such as EV chargers. Read more about these asset types.
Baseline: This is a prediction of an asset demand or generation profile over the period of market- based flexibility events. Typically, the counterfactual against which flexibility actions are measured.
CMZ: A “constraint management zone” represents the area of the network which is forecasted to be constrained during a specific future time period.
Commercial qualification: The process of onboarding and contracting a flexibility service provider (FSP) - a pre-requisite for market participation. Read more about the qualification process.
Dispatch: A signal or instruction from the market platform to the FSP/asset detailing the action that should be taken by the asset.
Flexibility market platform (FMP): The ElectronConnect webapp/platform.
Flexibility Service Provider (FSP): The organisation providing flexibility.
Invoicing and settlement: This is the step to calculate the payments to be made to FSPs based on their performance in the market(s). This is based on the calculations that form the performance verification workflow.
Market operator: The organisation procuring flexibility on ElectronConnect.
Market: On ElectronConnect, a market defines the flexibility trading arrangements. This includes: the constraint management zone(s), the services period, the service windows, the payment structure, and clearing type. The details of the markets on the deployments are published to the FSPs, and the market operator selects assets based on the market parameters.
Offers: These are volume and price indications made by FSPs for their assets into market events. The offer generally is formed of a flexibility volume (MW) and “activity” (e.g. demand turn down), with associated prices.
Performance verification: This is the process of comparing the meter readings of a contracted, dispatched asset to the baseline.
Technical qualification: The act of allowing specific assets to participate in specific markets, a decision based on the registered technical parameters of each asset.
Utilisation weighting factor: This percentage is defined by the market operator and allows the merit order list to be defined based on the expected level of utilisation. It scales the impact of the utilisation price when calculating the total price as part of the merit order calculation.