Energy vocabulary
Speak grid and field ops. 28 hand-written terms with real workplace examples.
Learn energy terms every day.
One hand-written term. A real workplace example. Thirty seconds before your day gets loud.
E&P
Exploration and production. Finding and extracting oil and gas reserves.
Reservoir
Underground formation that holds hydrocarbons and requires engineering to produce economically.
Pipeline Throughput
Volume of product moving through a pipeline over a period.
LNG
Liquefied natural gas. Natural gas cooled to liquid form for storage and transport.
NERC
North American Electric Reliability Corporation. Sets grid reliability standards.
Load Balancing
Matching electricity supply to demand in real time across the grid.
Tariff Schedule
Published rates and rules for delivering or selling electricity or gas.
Interconnection Queue
Ordered list of generation projects waiting for grid connection approval.
PPA
Power purchase agreement. Contract to buy electricity from a generator at agreed terms.
Curtailment
Reduction of renewable output when the grid cannot absorb more generation.
Inverter
Device that converts DC power from solar panels to AC for the grid.
Capacity Factor
Ratio of actual energy output to maximum possible output over a period.
SCADA
Supervisory control and data acquisition system for monitoring remote assets.
Historian
Time-series database that stores sensor and operations data from plants and grids.
Asset Digital Twin
Live model of a physical asset fed by sensor data for monitoring and simulation.
Alarm Management
Practice of prioritizing and responding to control system alerts to reduce noise.
Emissions Reporting
Tracking and disclosing greenhouse gas and pollutant releases to regulators.
Permit to Work
Formal authorization before hazardous field work begins on site.
Flare Stack
Elevated structure that burns off excess or emergency hydrocarbon gas releases.
LDAR
Leak detection and repair program for fugitive emissions from equipment.
Hedging
Using contracts to offset price risk on fuel or power purchases and sales.
Basis Risk
Risk that local prices diverge from the benchmark used in a hedge.
Crack Spread
Margin between refined products and crude oil prices for refiners.
Nomination
Scheduled quantity of gas or power a shipper commits to move or deliver.
Control Room
Central operations space where staff monitor plants, pipelines, or the grid.
Field Engineer
Engineer who works on site at wells, plants, substations, or pipelines.
Operations Center
Hub that coordinates monitoring, logistics, and response across assets.
Shift Handover
Structured transfer of status, alarms, and tasks between operating shifts.
Building toward a role? Browse career pathways that map terms to jobs.