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Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring Assessment: Literature Review and Laboratory Protocol

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1095438· OSTI ID:1095438

Unlike sub-metering, which requires that individual loads are equipped with their own meters, nonintrusive load monitors (NILM) use algorithms to discern the individual loads from a single metering point. Although a number of these technologies are now commercially available to utilities and homeowners, with several more to become available in the coming years, it is not yet understood how accurately these technologies can disaggregate a home’s electrical load. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and its partners at the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) have identified and acquired six of these technologies and will be testing them in the PNNL Lab Homes as well as the owner-occupied Residential Test Bed operated by NEEA. As a result of this testing, PNNL and NEEA will evaluate the selected NILMs against a repeatable test protocol so that their accuracy can be compared across NILM technologies. In the field deployment in the NEEA Test Bed Homes, PNNL and NEEA will evaluate the real-world accuracy of the NILMs responding to dynamic loads. To evaluate the accuracy of NILM technologies regardless of their intended application, a standardized test protocol is required that applies representative loads and establishes consistent metrics against which the NILM can be evaluated and compared. To establish this standardized test protocol, a literature review was conducted to identify any test protocols or standardized testing approaches currently in use. The literature review indicated that no consistent conventions were currently in place for measuring the accuracy of these technologies. Consequently, PNNL developed a testing protocol and metrics to provide the basis for quantifying and analyzing the accuracy of commercially available NILM technologies. This report discusses the results of the literature review and the proposed test protocol and metrics in more detail.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1095438
Report Number(s):
PNNL--22635; BT0101000
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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