Vertex-algebraic structure of principal subspaces of standard A_2^{(2)}-modules, I

Extending earlier work of the authors, this is the first in a series of papers devoted to the vertex-algebraic structure of principal subspaces of standard modules for twisted affine Kac-Moody algebras. In this part, we develop the necessary theory of principal subspaces for the affine Lie algebra A_2^{(2)}, which we expect can be extended to higher rank algebras. As a "test case," we consider the principal subspace of the basic A_2^{(2)}-module and explore its structure in depth.