Glossary of Terms - O

• Obligation to Serve - The obligation of a utility to provide electric service to any customer who seeks that service, and is willing to pay the rates set for that service. Traditionally, utilities have assumed the obligation to serve in return for an exclusive monopoly franchise.
• Ocean Energy Systems - Energy conversion technologies that harness the energy in tides, waves, and thermal gradients in the oceans.
• Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) - The process or technologies for producing energy by harnessing the temperature differences (thermal gradients) between ocean surface waters and that of ocean depths. Warm surface water is pumped through an evaporator containing a working fluid in a closed Rankine-cycle system. The vaporized fluid drives a turbine/generator. Cold water from deep below the surface is used to condense the working fluid. Open-Cycle OTEC technologies use ocean water itself as the working fluid. Closed-Cycle OTEC systems circulate a working fluid in a closed loop. A working 10 kilowatt, closed-cycle prototype was developed by the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research in Hawaii with U.s. Department of Energy funding, but was not commercialized.
• Octane Number - A measure of the resistance of gasoline to pre-ignite or knock when burned in an internal combustion engine.
• Offer - A motion to sell a futures or options contract at a specified price. Opposite of bid.
• Off-Peak - The period of low energy demand, as opposed to maximum, or peak, demand.
• Off-Peak Gas - Gas that is to be delivered and taken on demand when demand is not at its peak.
• Offset - A transaction which liquidates or closes out an open contract position. In spread positions, one side offsets the other without liquidating the entire position. Risk is reduced when one side offsets the other.
• Ohm - The unit of measurement of electrical resistance. The resistance of a circuit in which a potential difference of 1 volt produces a current of 1 ampere.
• Ohm's Law - In a given electrical circuit, the amount of current in amperes (i) is equal to the pressure in volts (V) divided by the resistance, in ohms (R).
• Oil (fuel) - A product of crude oil that is used for space heating, diesel engines, and electrical generation.
• Omnibus Account - An account carried by one futures commission merchant with another in which the transactions of two or more persons are combined rather than designated separately and the identity of the individual accounts is not disclosed.
• One Cancels the Other - Two orders submitted simultaneously, either of which may be filled. If one order is filled, the other is considered to be canceled.
• One Sun - The maximum value of natural solar insolation.
• One-Axis Tracking - A system capable of rotating about one axis.
• On-Peak - Refers to hours of the business day when demand is at its peak. For example, the NYMEX Division California-Oregon border and Palo Verde electricity futures contracts define the on-peak period from the hour ending 0700 to the hour ending 2200 (6 A.M. to 10 P.M.), prevailing time. In the physical market, on-peak definitions vary by North America Electric Reliability Council region.
• On-Peak Energy - Energy supplied during periods of relatively high system demands as specified by the supplier.
• On-Site Generation - Generation of energy at the location where all or most of it will be used.
• Open Access - Access to the electric transmission system by any legitimate market participant, including utilities, independent power producers, cogenerators, and power marketers. The ability to send or wheel electric power to a customer over a transmission and distribution system that is not owned by the generator (seller) of the power.
• Open Interest or Commitment - The number of open or outstanding contracts for which an individual or entity is obligated to the Exchange because that individual or entity has not yet made an offsetting sale or purchase, an actual contract delivery, or, in the case of options, exercised the option.
• Open Order - A resting order that is good until canceled.
• Open Outcry - A method of public auction for making verbal bids and offers for contracts in the trading pits or rings of commodity exchanges.
• Open-Circuit Voltage - The maximum possible voltage across a photovoltaic cell; the voltage across the cell in sunlight when no current is flowing.
• Opening Price - The price for a given futures commodity that is generated by trading through open outcry during the opening range of trading on a commodity exchange.
• Open-Loop System - A heating system, such as a solar water heater or geothermal heat pump, in which the working fluid is heated and used directly; in an open-loop solar system, the domestic water is circulated in the collector loop.
• Operable Nuclear Unit - A nuclear unit is Ïoperable after it completes low power testing and is granted authorization to operate at full power. This occurs when it receives its full power amendment to its operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
• Operating Cycle - The processes that a work input/output system undergoes and in which the initial and final states are identical.
• Operation and Maintenance Expenses - Costs that relate to the normal operating, maintenance and administrative activities of a business.
• Option - A contract which gives the holder the right, but not the obligation, to purchase or to sell the underlying futures contract at a specified price within a specified period of time in exchange for a one-time premium payment. The contract also obligates the writer, who receives the premium, to meet these obligations.
• Orientation - The alignment of a building along a given axis to face a specific geographical direction. The alignment of a solar collector, in number of degrees east or west of true south.
• Original Margin - The initial deposit of funds, as good faith monies, when a position is initiated in order to guarantee fulfillment of its obligations. Also known as initial margin.
• Other DSM Programs - A residual category to capture the effects of DSM programs that cannot be meaningfully included in any of the program categories listed and defined herein. The energy effects attributable to this category should be the net effects of all the residual programs. Programs that promote consumerÌs substitution of electricity by other energy types should be included in Other DSM Programs. Also, self-generation should be included in Other DSM Programs to the extent that it is not accounted for as backup generation in Other Load Management or Interruptible Load categories.
• Other Load Management - Refers to programs other than Direct Load Control and Interruptible Load that limit or shift peak load from on-peak to off-peak time periods. It includes technologies that primarily shift all or part of a load from one time-of-day to another and secondarily may have an impact on energy consumption. Examples include space heating and water heating storage systems, cool storage systems, and load limiting devices in energy management systems. This category also includes programs that aggressively promote time-of-use (TOU) rates and other innovative rates such as real time pricing. These rates are intended to reduce consumer bills and shift hours of operation of equipment from on-peak to off-peak periods through the application of time differentiated rates.
• Outages - A planned outage is the shutdown of a generating unit, transmission line, or other facility for inspection and maintenance, in accordance with an advance schedule. A forced outage is the unplanned loss of service of a generating unit, transmission line, or other facility for purposes other than inspection and maintenance.
• Outgassing - The process by which materials expel or release gasses.
• Out-of-the-Money - An option which has no intrinsic value. For calls, an option whose exercise price is above the market price of the underlying future. For puts, an option whose exercise price is below the futures price.
• Overbought - A technical opinion that the market price has risen too steeply and too fast in relation to underlying fundamental factors.
• Overhang - A building element that shades windows, walls, and doors from direct solar radiation and protects these elements from precipitation.
• Overload - The flow of electricity into conductors or devices when normal load exceeds capacity.
• Oversold - A technical opinion that the market price has declined too steeply and too fast in relation to underlying fundamental factors.
• Overwrite - The writing of more options than one expects to have exercised. Call options are overwritten because the writer considers the underlying overvalued. Put options are overwritten because the underlying is considered undervalued.
• Ovonic - A device that converts heat or sunlight directly to electricity, invented by Standford Ovshinsky, that has a unique glass composition that changes from an electrically non-conducting state to a semiconducting state.
• Oxygenates - Gasoline fuel additives such as ethanol, ETBE, or MTBE that add extra oxygen to gasoline to reduce carbon monoxide pollution produced by vehicles.