Glossary
Terms are expanded at first use on each page. This page is the backstop, not a substitute.
- LCOE
- levelised cost of energy: the average cost per MWh of building and running a generator over its life.
- BESS
- battery energy storage system.
- Firmed / 24×7 firm
- power delivered continuously at a stated reliability (here 99%), not only when the sun shines; achieved by pairing solar with storage.
- MWh / TWh
- megawatt-hour; terawatt-hour (a billion times larger). Australia's east-coast grid consumes about 213 TWh a year.
- NEM / WEM
- the National Electricity Market (eastern states) and Wholesale Electricity Market (WA's main grid).
- HVAC / HVDC
- high-voltage alternating / direct current transmission.
- Capacity factor
- actual energy produced as a share of the theoretical maximum.
- GHI
- global horizontal irradiance: how much solar energy lands on a flat surface, in kWh/m² per year.
- WACC
- weighted average cost of capital: the blended financing rate a project pays.
- IRR
- internal rate of return.
- RTT
- round-trip time: how long data takes to travel to a location and back, in milliseconds.
- PUE
- power usage effectiveness: total data-centre power divided by computing power; lower is better.
- SWRO
- seawater reverse osmosis desalination.
- FPIC
- free, prior and informed consent: the standard for Traditional Owner agreement this project treats as Gate 0.
- ILUA
- Indigenous Land Use Agreement, a formal agreement under the Native Title Act.
- NTRB / RATSIB
- Native Title Representative Body; the map layer uses the formal term (Representative Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander Body).
- CAPAD
- the national database of protected areas.
- EPBC
- the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, the Commonwealth environmental approval law.
- REGO
- Renewable Electricity Guarantee of Origin certificate.