Characteristics And Performance Of Existing Load Disaggregation Technologies PDF Download

Non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) or non-intrusive appliance load monitoring (NIALM) is an analytic approach to disaggregate building loads based on a single metering point. This advanced load monitoring and disaggregation technique has the potential to provide an alternative solution to high-priced traditional sub-metering and enable innovative approaches for energy conservation, energy efficiency, and demand response. However, since the inception of the concept in the 1980's, evaluations of these technologies have focused on reporting performance accuracy without investigating sources of inaccuracies or fully understanding and articulating the meaning of the metrics used to quantify performance. As a result, the market for, as well as, advances in these technologies have been slowly maturing. To improve the market for these NILM technologies, there has to be confidence that the deployment will lead to benefits. In reality, every end-user and application that this technology may enable does not require the highest levels of performance accuracy to produce benefits. Also, there are other important characteristics that need to be considered, which may affect the appeal of NILM products to certain market targets (i.e. residential and commercial building consumers) and the suitability for particular applications. These characteristics include the following: 1) ease of use, the level of expertise/bandwidth required to properly use the product; 2) ease of installation, the level of expertise required to install along with hardware needs that impact product cost; and 3) ability to inform decisions and actions, whether the energy outputs received by end-users (e.g. third party applications, residential users, building operators, etc.) empower decisions and actions to be taken at time frames required for certain applications. Therefore, stakeholders, researchers, and other interested parties should be kept abreast of the evolving capabilities, uses, and characteristics of NILM that make them attractive for certain building environments and different classes of end-users. The intent of this report is to raise awareness of trending NILM approaches. Additionally, three existing technologies were acquired and evaluated using the Residential Building Stock Assessment (RBSA) owner-occupied test bed operated by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) to understand performance accuracy of current NILM products under realistic conditions. Based on this field study experience, the characteristics exhibited by the NILM products included in the assessment are also discussed in this report in terms of ease of use, ease of installation, ability to inform decisions and actions. Results of the analysis performed to investigate the accuracy of the participating NILM products in estimating energy use of individual appliances are also presented.