Glossary of Terms - F

• Facility - An existing or planned location or site at which prime movers, electric generators, and/or equipment for converting mechanical, chemical, and/or nuclear energy into electric energy are situated, or will be situated. A facility may contain more than one generator of either the same or different prime mover type. For a cogenerator, the facility includes the industrial or commercial process.
• Fair Value - Theoretical value.
• Farad - A unit of electrical capacitance; the capacitance of a capacitor between the plates of which there appears a difference of 1 Volt when it is charged by one coulomb of electricity.
• Fast Market - Transactions in the ring that take place in such volume and with such rapidity that price reporters are behind with price quotations, so they insert "Fast" and show a range of prices.
• Feasibility Factor - A factor used to adjust potential energy savings to account for cases where it is impractical to install new equipment. For example, certain types of fluorescent lighting require room temperature conditions. They are not feasible for outdoor or unheated space applications. Some commercial applications, such as color-coded warehouses, require good color rendition, so color distortions could also make certain types of lighting infeasible. The feasibility factor equals 100 percent minus the percent of infeasible applications.
• Feather - In a wind energy conversion system, to pitch the turbine blades so as to reduce their lift capacity as a method of shutting down the turbine during high wind speeds.
• Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) - A program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that implements energy legislation and presidential directives. FEMP provides project financing, technical guidance and assistance, coordination and reporting, and new initiatives for the federal government. It also helps federal agencies identify the best technologies and technology demonstrations for their use.
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) - This is an independent regulatory agency within the U.S. DOE that has jurisdiction over interstate electricity sales, wholesale electric rates, natural gas pricing, oil pipeline rates, and gas pipeline certification. It also licenses and inspects private, municipal, and state hydroelectric projects and oversees related environmental matters.
• Federal Power Act - Enacted in 1920 and amended in 1935, the Act consists of three parts. The first part incorporated the Federal Water Power Act administered by the former Federal Power Commission, whose activities were confined almost entirely to licensing non-Federal hydroelectric projects. Parts II and III were added with the passage of the Public Utility Act. These parts extended the Acts jurisdiction to include regulating the interstate transmission of electrical energy and rates for its sale as wholesale in interstate commerce. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is now charged with the administration of this law.
• Federal Power Commission - The predecessor agency of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Federal Power Commission (FPC) was created by an Act of Congress under the Federal Water Power Act on June 10, 1920. It was charged originally with regulating the electric power and natural gas industries. The FPC was abolished on September 20, 1977, when the Department of Energy was created. The functions of the FPC were divided between the Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
• Federal Power Marketing Administrations (PMA) - These are separate and distinct organizational agencies within the U.S. DOE that market power at federal multipurpose water projects at lowest possible rates to consumers consistent with sound business principles. There are five PMA's: Alaska Power Administration, Bonneville Power Administration, Southeastern Power Administration, Southwestern Power Administration, Western Area Power Administration.
• Feeder - This is an electrical supply line, either overhead or underground, which runs from the substation, through various paths, ending with the transformers. It is a distribution circuit, usually less than 69,000 volts, which carries power from the substation.
• Feeder Lockout - This happens when a main circuit is interrupted at the substation by automatic protective devices and cannot be restored until crews investigate. This indicates a serious problem on the circuit, usually equipment failure or a broken conductor.
• Feedstock - The supply of crude oil, natural gas liquids, or natural gas to a refinery or petrochemical plant or the supply of some refined fraction of intermediate product to some other manufacturing process.
• Fence - A long (short) underlying position together with a long (short) out-of-the-money put and a short (long) out-of-the-money call. All options must expire at the same time.
• FERC - The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
• Fermentation - The decomposition of organic material to alcohol, methane, etc., by organisms, such as yeast or bacteria, usually in the absence of oxygen.
• FIA - Futures Industry Association. A national not-for-profit futures industry trade association that represents the brokerage community on industry, regulatory, political, and educational issues.
• Fiberglass Insulation - A type of insulation, composed of small diameter pink, yellow, or white glass fibers, formed into blankets or batts, or used in loose-fill and blown-in applications.
• Fill - The price at which an order is executed.
• Fill Factor - The ratio of a photovoltaic cell's actual power to its power if both current and voltage were at their maxima. A key characteristic in evaluating cell performance.
• Fill or Kill - An order which must be filled immediately, and in its entirety. Failing this, the order will be canceled.
• Fin - A thin sheet of material (metal) of a heat exchanger that conducts heat to a fluid.
• Financial Attributes - Financial attributes measure the financial health of the company. Utility management, security analysts, investors, and regulators use these attributes to evaluate a utility's performance against its historic records and industry averages. Key financial attributes include capital requirements, earnings per share of common equity, capitalization ratios, and interest coverage ratios.
• Financial Trading - Buying or selling securities or commodities without the intention of keeping the rights to said asset or commodity through maturity/delivery. No physical trade of goods - only proprietary and often temperary purchases.
• Firing Rate - The amount of BTUs/hour or kWs produced by a heating system from the burning of a fuel.
• Firm Energy - The highest quality sales of electric transmission service offered to customers under a filed rate schedule that anticipates no planned interruption.
• Firm Gas - Gas sold on a continuous and generally long-term contract.
• Firm Power - Power or power producing capacity intended to be available at all times during the period covered by a guaranteed commitment to deliver, even under adverse conditions.
• Firm Service - Utility service which assumes no interruption except if residential customers' supply is threatened. Opposite of interruptible service.
• Firm Transmission Service - Point-to-point transmission service that is reserved and/or scheduled for a term of one year or more and that is of the same priority as that of the Transmission Providers firm use of the transmission system. Firm Transmission service that is reserved and/or scheduled for a term of less than one year shall be considered Short-Term Firm Transmission Service for the purposes of service liability.
• First Law of Thermodynamics - States that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only changed from one form to another. First Law efficiency measures the fraction of energy supplied to a device or process that it delivers in its output. Also called the law of conservation of energy.
• First Notice Day - The first day on which the clearinghouse notifies clearing members of delivery allocations. Energy contracts have only one notice day. Metals contracts have notice days just prior to the beginning and end of the delivery period.
• Fiscal Year (FY) - The U.S. Government's 12-month financial year, from October to September, of the following calender year; e.g.: FY 1998 extends from Oct. 1, 1997 to Sept. 30, 1988.
• Fixed Costs - The annual costs associated with the ownership of property such as depreciation, taxes, insurance, and the cost of capital.
• Flashing - Metal, usually galvanized sheet metal, used to provide protection against infiltration of precipitation into a roof or exterior wall; usually placed around roof penetrations such as chimneys.
• Flash-Steam Geothermal Plants - When the temperature of the hydrothermal liquids is over 350 F (177 C), flash-steam technology is generally employed. In these systems, most of the liquid is flashed to steam. The steam is separated from the remaining liquid and used to drive a turbine generator. While the water is returned to the geothermal reservoir, the economics of most hydrothermal flash plants are improved by using a dual-flash cycle, which separates the steam at two different pressures. The dual-flash cycle produces 20% to 30% more power than a single-flash system at the same fluid flow.
• Flat Rate - A fixed charge for goods and services that does not vary with changes in the amount used, volume consumed, or units purchased.
• Flat-Plate Photovoltaic Module - An arrangement of photovoltaic cells mounted on a rigid flat surface with the cells exposed freely to incoming sunlight.
• Flat-Plate PV - Refers to a PV array or module that consists of nonconcentrating elements. Flat-plate arrays and modules use direct and diffuse sunlight, but if the array is fixed in position, some portion of the direct sunlight is lost because of oblique sun-angles in relation to the array.
• Flat-Plate Solar Photovoltaic Module - An arrangement of photovoltaic cells or material mounted on a rigid flat surface with the cells exposed freely to incoming sunlight.
• Flat-Plate Solar Thermal/Heating Collectors - Large, flat boxes with glass covers and dark-colored metal plates inside that absorb and transfer solar energy to a heat transfer fluid.
• Flexible Load Shape - The ability to modify your utility's load shape on short notice. When resources are insufficient to meet load requirements, load shifting or peak clipping may be appropriate.
• Flexible Retail PoolCo - This provides a model for the restructured electric industry that features an Independent System Operator (ISO) operating in parallel with a commercial Power Exchange, which allows end-use customers to buy from a spot market or "pool" or to contract directly with a particular supplier.
• Float Charge - Float charge is the voltage required to counteract the self-discharge of the battery at a certain temperature.
• Float Life - Number of years that a battery can keep its stated capacity when it is kept at float charge (see float charge).
• Float-Zone Process - In reference to solar photovoltaic cell manufacture, a method of growing a large-size, high-quality crystal whereby coils heat a polycrystalline ingot placed atop a single-crystal seed. As the coils are slowly raised the molten interface beneath the coils becomes a single crystal.
• Floor - 1) The main trading area of an exchange. 2) A supply contract between a buyer and seller of a commodity, whereby the seller is assured that he will receive at least some minimum price. This type of contract is analogous to a put option.
• Floor Broker - An exchange member who executes orders to buy or sell futures and options in the trading ring on the floor of a commodities exchange.
• Floor Trader or Local - An exchange member who buys or sells futures and/or options for his own account.
• Florida Reliability Coordinating Council (FRCC) - One of the ten regional reliability councils that make up the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC).
• Flow Condition - In reference to solar thermal collectors, the condition where the heat transfer fluid is flowing through the collector loop under normal operating conditions.
• Flow Restrictor - A water and energy conserving device that limits the amount of water that a faucet or shower head can deliver.
• Flue Gas Desulfurization Unit (Scrubber) - Equipment used to remove sulfur oxides from the combustion gases of a boiler plant before discharge to the atmosphere. Chemicals, such as lime, are used as the scrubbing media.
• Fluidized Bed Combustion (FBC) - A type of furnace or reactor in which fuel particles are combusted while suspended in a stream of hot gas.
• Fly Ash - The fine particulate matter entrained in the flue gases of a combustion power plant. Particle matter from coal ash in which the particle diameter is less than 1 x 10-4 meter. This is removed from the flue gas using flue gas particulate collectors such as fabric filters and electrostatic precipitators.
• Flywheel Effect - The damping of interior temperature fluctuations by massive construction.
• Foot Candle - A unit of illuminance; equal to one lumen per square foot.
• Foot Pound - The amount of work done in raising one pound one foot.
• Force - The push or pull that alters the motion of a moving body or moves a stationary body; the unit of force is the dyne or poundal; force is equal to mass time velocity divided by time.
• Force Majeure - A standard clause which indemnifies either or both parties to a transaction whenever events which the Exchange declares to be reasonably beyond the contract.
• Forced Air System or Furnace - A type of heating system in which heated air is blown by a fan through air channels or ducts to rooms.
• Forced Outage - An outage that results from emergency conditions and requires a component to be taken out of service automatically or as soon as switching operations can be performed. The forced outage can be caused by improper operation of equipment or by human error. If it is possible to defer the outage, the outage becomes a scheduled outage.
• Forced Ventilation - A type of building ventilation system that uses fans or blowers to provide fresh air to rooms when the forces of air pressure and gravity are not enough to circulate air through a building.
• Formaldehyde - A chemical used as a preservative and in bonding agents. It is found in household products such as plywood, furniture, carpets, and some types of foam insulation. It is also a by-product of combustion and is a strong-smelling, colorless gas that is an eye irritant and can cause sneezing, coughing, and other health problems.
• Forward Contract - A supply contract between a buyer and seller, whereby the buyer is obligated to take delivery and the seller is obligated to provide delivery of a fixed amount of a commodity at a predetermined price on a specified future date. Payment in full is due at the time of, or following, delivery. This differs from a futures contract where settlement is made daily, resulting in partial payment over the life of the contract.
• Fossil Fuels - Fuels formed in the ground from the remains of dead plants and animals. It takes millions of years to form fossil fuels. Oil, natural gas, and coal are fossil fuels.
• Fossil-Fuel Plant - A plant using coal, petroleum, or gas as its source of energy.
• Fractional Horse Power Motor - An electric motor rated at less than one horse power (hp).
• Fractionation - The process whereby saturated hydrocarbons from natural gas are separated into distinct parts or "fractions" such as propane, butane, ethane, etc.
• Franchise Area - This is the territory in which a utility system supplies service to customers.
• Franchise Monopoly - Under this system, a utility has the right to be the sole or principal supplier of electric power at a retail level in a specific region or area knows as the franchise service territory. In return for its sole supplier privilege, the utility has an obligation to serve anyone who requests service, and agrees to be accountable to state and/or federal regulatory bodies that regulate the utility's performance, accounting procedures, pricing structures, and plant planning and siting.
• Francis Turbine - A type of hydropower turbine that contains a runner that has water passages through it formed by curved vanes or blades. As the water passes through the runner and over the curved surfaces, it causes rotation of the runner. The rotational motion is transmitted by a shaft to a generator.
• Free on Board (FOB) - A transaction in which the seller provides a commodity at an agreed unit price, at a specified loading point within a specified period; it is the responsibility of the buyer to arrange for transportation and insurance.
• Freon - A registered trademark for a cholorfluorocarbon (CFC) gas that is highly stable and that has been historically used as a refrigerant.
• Frequency - The number of cycles through which an alternating current passes per second; in the U.S. the standard for electricity generation is 60 cycles per second (60 Hertz).
• Fresnel Lens - An optical device that focuses light like a magnifying glass; concentric rings are faced at slightly different angles so that light falling on any ring is focused to the same point. Fresnel lenses are flat rather than thick in the center and can be stamped out in a mold.
• Friction Head - The energy lost from the movement of a fluid in a conduit (pipe) due to the disturbances created by the contact of the moving fluid with the surfaces of the conduit, or the additional pressure that a pump must provide to overcome the resistance to fluid flow created by or in a conduit.
• Fuel - Any substance that can be burned to produce heat; also, materials that can be fissioned in a chain reaction to produce heat. Any material that can be burned to make energy.
• Fuel Adjustment - A clause in the rate schedule that provides for adjustment of the amount of a bill as the cost of fuel varies from a specified base amount per unit. The specified base amount is determined when rates are approved. This item is shown on all customer bills and indicates the current rate for any adjustment in the cost of fuel used by the company. It can be a credit or a debit. The fuel adjustment lags two months behind the actual price of the fuel. For example, the cost of oil in January will be reflected in March's fuel adjustment.
• Fuel Cell - A device that converts the energy of a fuel directly to electricity and heat, without combustion. Because there is no combustion, fuel cells give off few emissions; because there are no moving parts, fuel cells are quiet.
• Fuel Diversity - A utility or power supplier that has power stations using several different types of fuel. Avoiding over-reliance on one fuel helps avoid the risk of supply interruption and price spikes.
• Fuel Efficiency - The ratio of heat produced by a fuel for doing work to the available heat in the fuel.
• Fuel Escalation - The annual rate of increase of the cost of fuel, including inflation and real escalation, resulting from resource depletion, increased demand, etc.
• Fuel Expenses - Costs associated with the generation of electricity. These costs include the fuel used in the production of steam or driving another prime mover for the generation of electricity. Other associated expenses include unloading the shipped fuel and all handling of the fuel up to the point where it enters the first bunker, hopper, bucket, tank, or holder in the boiler house structure.
• Fuel Grade Alcohol - Usually refers to ethanol to 160 to 200 proof.
• Fuel Oil - Refined petroleum products used as a fuel for home heating and industrial and utility boilers. Fuel oil is divided into two broad categories, distillate fuel oil, also known as No. 2 fuel, gasoil, or diesel fuel; and residual fuel oil, also known as No. 6 fuel, or outside the United States, just as fuel oil. No. 2 fuel is a light oil used for home heating, in compression ignition engines, and in light industrial applications. No. 6 oil is a heavy fuel used in large commercial, industrial, and electric utility boilers.
• Fuel Rate - The amount of fuel necessary to generate one kilowatt-hour of electricity.
• Fuel-Use Attributes - Fuel-use attributes are important to utilities concerned about reliance on a single fuel or reduction in usage of a particular fuel. These attributes include annual fuel consumption by type and percent energy generation by fuel.
• Full Sun - The amount of power density in sunlight received at the earth's surface at noon on a clear day (about 1,000 Watts/square meter).
• Full-Forced Outage - The net capability of main generating units that are unavailable for load for emergency reasons.
• Functional Unbundling - The functional separation of generation, transmission, and distribution transactions within a vertically integrated utility without selling of "spinning off" these functions into separate companies.
• Fundamental Analysis - The study of pertinent supply and demand factors which influence the specific price behavior of commodities. See also Technical Analysis.
• Fungi - Plant-like organisms with cells with distinct nuclei surrounded by nuclear membranes, incapable of photosynthesis. Fungi are decomposers of waste organisms and exist as yeast, mold, or mildew.
• Fungible - Interchangeable. Products which can be substituted for purposes of shipment or storage.
• Furling - The process of forcing, either manually or automatically, a wind turbine's blades out of the direction of the wind in order to stop the blades from turning.
• Fuse - A safety device consisting of a short length of relatively fine wire, mounted in a holder or contained in a cartridge and connected as part of an electrical circuit. If the circuit source current exceeds a predetermined value, the fuse wire melts (i.e. the fuse 'blows') breaking the circuit and preventing damage to the circuit protected by the fuse.
• Futures Commission Merchant - An FCM is the only industry participant who receives, handles, and manages customer funds, margin payments, and commission charges. He is also responsible for confirmation of trade slips, customer statements, and guarantees.
• Futures Contract - A supply contract between a buyer and seller, whereby the buyer is obligated to take delivery and the seller is obligated to provide delivery of a fixed amount of a commodity at a predetermined price at a specified location. Futures contracts are traded exclusively on regulated exchanges and are settled daily based on their current value in the marketplace.
• Futures-Equivalent - A term frequently used with reference to speculative position limits for options on futures contracts. The futures-equivalent of an options position is the number of options multiplied by the previous day's risk factor or delta for the options series. For example, 10 deep out-of-the money options with a risk factor of 0.20 would be considered two futures-equivalent contracts. The delta or risk factors used for this purpose is the same as that used in delta-based margining and risk analysis systems.