Non-intrusive electrical load monitoring in commercial buildings based on steady-state and transient load-detection algorithms

Increased interest in energy scorekeeping, load forecasting and improved control of electricity-consuming equipment has focused attention on the instrumentation required to obtain the desired data. Work performed by the authors and other researchers has shown that individual loads can be detected and separated from rapid sampling of power at a single point serving a number of pieces of equipment, for example the electrical service entrance for an entire house or all of the central space-conditioning equipment in a commercial building. This technique has worked well in tests in houses but faces more difficult challenges in commercial buildings. We present our results for this centralized or non-intrusive load monitoring technique, applied to the space-conditioning equipment in an office/laboratory building in which equipment start-up and shut-down was centrally observed and analyzed on the basis of changes in steady-state power. We further describe our enhanced technique for distinguishing loads by matching start-up transients to known patterns, and present laboratory tests of fully automated detection hardware and software.