Accredited value
The recognized reliability worth of a resource after it has passed grid-operator testing and registration, which makes it eligible for capacity payments.
Aggregated distributed resources
Many small power sources or flexible loads grouped to act as one large resource in wholesale markets.
Ancillary services
Grid services beyond basic energy delivery, such as frequency regulation and
spinning reserves, that keep the power system stable.
Ancillary Service Demand Curves (ASDC)
ERCOT's mechanism, live since December 2025, that prices ancillary services in real time from current grid conditions, replacing the legacy
ORDC adder.
Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)
A chip designed for a single task rather than general computing; the core converter in a high-density flexible compute load.
Audit trail
A documented record of actions and data proving what occurred during a demand response event, used for verification and payment.
Automated curtailment
Load reduction executed by software in response to a
dispatch signal, without human intervention, within the required response window.
Base Residual Auction (BRA)
PJM's forward capacity auction that sets the per-MW-day price paid to resources committed to be available in a future delivery year.
Baseline
The estimate of what a facility would have consumed absent a demand response event, against which actual reduction is measured.
Behavioral signature
A data-light operational fingerprint, derived from time-series energy data, that distinguishes flexible-load operators by how deeply, how often, and how well-timed their curtailment is.
Capacity accreditation
The process by which a grid operator assigns a resource the share of capacity credit it can reliably provide during system stress.
Controllable Load Resource (CLR)
ERCOT's registration category for large loads that can be dispatched down on command, with
sub-ten-minute response and real-time telemetry.
Congestion cost
The premium the market pays because transmission constraints prevent power from flowing freely from generation to demand, expressed in the LMP spread between nodes.
Curtailment
Deliberately reducing generation output, or for flexible load reducing consumption, when the grid can't absorb or transmit the available power.
Curtailment credit
A payment earned by a resource for reducing its load during a grid event or high-price interval.
Demand response (DR)
Reshaping electricity consumption so demand aligns with available supply, turning flexible load into a dispatchable grid resource.
Demand response lab
A company built like a research lab for flexible load: it first assembles the operational dataset showing how a
fully interruptible compute load behaves on the grid, then builds the dispatch and verification software on top of that data, then the hardware and market integration that put it to work. Type 3's operating model, where the research earns the right to deploy at scale.
Demand Response Resource (DRR)
A MISO category that participates directly in energy-market dispatch, distinct from capacity-only
Load Modifying Resources.
Deterministic response
A load reduction that is guaranteed and repeatable when dispatched, as opposed to a probabilistic average across many devices.
Dispatch signal
The instruction a grid operator sends to a resource directing it to reduce, increase, or hold its output or consumption.
Duck curve
The net-demand profile created by high solar penetration: a deep midday trough followed by a steep evening ramp as solar output disappears.
Effective Load-Carrying Capability (ELCC)
The share of a resource's nameplate that counts as firm capacity, based on its availability during the hours the grid is most stressed.
Energy arbitrage
Consuming power when prices are low or negative and curtailing when prices spike, capturing the spread between the two states.
Energy-only market
A market design, such as ERCOT, that compensates resources through energy and ancillary-service prices without a separate capacity payment.
FERC Order 2222
The federal directive requiring organized wholesale markets to open participation to aggregated distributed energy resources.
Firm load
Demand that must be served continuously and cannot be interrupted without significant cost, such as AI inference workloads.
Flexibility triangle
The three interlocking grid-balancing tools operators use to match supply and demand:
curtailment, energy storage, and
demand response.
Fully interruptible compute load
A high-density computing load that can shed 100% of its draw within the dispatch window and resume without penalty, functioning as a silicon energy converter for the grid.
Integrated Marketplace
SPP's combined energy and capacity market, clearing real-time and day-ahead prices alongside a resource-adequacy framework.
Interconnection queue
The backlog of projects awaiting study and approval to connect to the grid, often spanning multiple years.
Load Modifying Resource (LMR)
Load shed
Rapidly reducing or switching off electrical consumption to relieve stress on the grid.
Locational Marginal Price (LMP)
The price of electricity at a specific grid node, reflecting energy, congestion, and loss components.
Low Voltage Ride-Through (LVRT)
A requirement that equipment stay online through brief voltage dips instead of tripping offline. It is becoming a non-negotiable for dispatchable-load registration.
Market Registered Demand Response (MRDR)
SPP's category allowing demand response to participate fully in the
wholesale market and earn ELCC-based capacity credit.
Measurement and verification (M&V)
The data collection and analysis used to prove how much load a resource actually reduced during an event.
Megawatt (MW)
One million watts; the standard unit for the output of plants and the consumption of large facilities.
Megawatt-hour (MWh)
The energy of one megawatt sustained for one hour; the unit of large-scale electricity transactions.
Mission-critical
Operations that cannot be interrupted without severe financial, safety, or contractual consequences.
Multi-ISO optimization
Software that coordinates bidding and dispatch across several grid regions simultaneously to maximize revenue.
Negative prices
A market state where supply is so abundant that generators pay to keep power on the grid, creating an incentive for flexible loads to consume.
Non-Capacity-Backed Load (NCBL)
A PJM framework under which large loads accept first-in-line curtailment in exchange for avoiding the capacity charge.
Operating Reserve Demand Curve (ORDC)
ERCOT's legacy mechanism, retired in 2025, that applied price adders after the fact based on reserve margins.
Oversupply
Generation exceeding the grid's ability to use, store, or transmit it, leading to curtailment or negative prices.
Peaker plant
A generator, usually gas-fired, that runs only during peak demand and sits idle the rest of the year.
Planning reserve margin
The percentage of capacity held above expected peak demand to maintain reliability during unexpected events.
Planning Resource Auction (PRA)
MISO's annual auction that clears capacity resources for the coming planning year.
Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
A long-term contract setting the price and terms for buying electricity, often structured to price in interruptibility.
Probabilistic response
An expected demand reduction averaged across many small devices but not guaranteed from any single unit: the profile of residential virtual power plants.
Real-Time Co-optimization plus Batteries (RTC+B)
ERCOT's market system, live December 2025, that jointly optimizes energy and ancillary-service prices every five minutes.
Reliability-Based Demand Curve (RBDC)
MISO's capacity-pricing curve, introduced in 2024, that raises the marginal value of capacity as the system nears minimum adequacy.
Reference design
A standardized engineering plan replicated across sites to accelerate deployment and reduce design cost.
Resource adequacy
The framework ensuring enough accredited capacity exists to meet demand reliably during peak conditions.
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
A contract guaranteeing performance or uptime, which makes deep curtailment infeasible for traditional data centers.
Software-defined
A system whose key functions, including power management and dispatch, are governed by software rather than fixed hardware settings.
Spinning reserves
Backup capacity that can ramp up within minutes to replace power lost from a sudden plant failure.
Stranded power
Generation or transmission capacity that is built but underutilized because it cannot reach buyers or is constrained by bottlenecks.
Sub-ten-minute
A performance standard requiring a resource to reduce load within ten minutes of a dispatch signal; advanced markets now require sub-five-second response.
Switchgear
Electrical equipment that controls, protects, and isolates power circuits in a facility or substation.
Telemetry
Near-real-time data streams showing a grid operator how a resource is performing during an event, distinct from slower settlement metering.
Texas SB6 (2025)
State law requiring new large loads of 75 MW or greater to demonstrate curtailment capability during emergencies.
Total shed
A curtailment strategy in which a facility removes its entire electrical load rather than a portion.
Transmission limits
The maximum power existing lines can safely carry between areas without overheating or instability.
Virtual energy storage
The use of flexible loads to absorb surplus renewable energy and release capacity through curtailment, achieving the grid effect of a battery without the physical asset, degradation cycle, or state-of-charge limit.
Virtual Power Plant (VPP)
A network of small distributed resources aggregated and controlled as a single power plant.
Wholesale market
The centralized marketplace where large volumes of electricity are traded between generators, utilities, and qualified demand response providers.