English Glossary

debt to equity ratio

A barrier that impounds water or underground streams

Data Acquisition Module

Dark calm refers to periods with low PV production (dark) and low wind power production (calm).

The automatic collection of data from sensors, instruments and devices: in a factory, laboratory or in the field.

A device that collects and stores data

List of all data to be submitted by the system operator to a user or by a user to the system operator.

Forecast made for the next day.

A day-ahead market is where power is traded for delivery during the next day (usually hourly electricity products).

The ratio between the light level at a particular point in a building and the level simultaneously available outside.

decibel

direct current

discounted cash flow

Repayments of principle plus interest payable,usually expressed as the annual amount due per calendar or financial year.

A quantitative measure used by lenders to determine whether a project’s prospective net cash flow from operations can support (make timely service payment on) a given amount of debt at the indicated potentially available terms. For any given debt service period, the debt service coverage ratio is defined as the cash available for debt service (CADS) divided by the total amount of debt service.

A reserve account set up to ensure the timely payment of principal and interest.

A ratio of a company’s debt to its total capitalization. The higher the D:E Ratio the greater the financial leverage of the company.

dedicated energy crops

The decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit used to express the ratio between two values of a physical quantity, often power or intensity. A decibel scaleis used to express sound power and pressure level. When measuring environmental noise, a weighting network is used which filters the frequency of sound, and is expressed as dB(A).

Crops grown specifically for their fuel value. These include food crops such as corn and sugarcane, and non-food crops such as poplar trees and switchgrass. Can be distinguished into short-rotation woody crops harvested in 5 to 8 years, and herbaceous energy crops harvested annually.