Load Disaggregation Technologies: Real World and Laboratory Performance
Over the past ten years, improvements in low cost interval metering and communication technology have enabled load disaggregation through non intrusive load monitoring (NILM) technologies, which estimate and report energy consumption of individual end use loads. Given the appropriate performance characteristics, these technologies have the potential to enable many utility and customer facing applications. However, there has been skepticism concerning the ability of load disaggregation products to accurately identify and estimate energy consumption of end uses; which has hindered wide spread market adoption. A contributing factor is that common test methods and metrics are unavailable to evaluate performance without conducting large scale field demonstrations and pilots, which can be costly. Without common and costeffective methods of evaluation, advanced NILM technologies will continue to be slow to market and potential users will remain uncertain about their capabilities. This paper reviews recent field studies and laboratory tests of NILM technologies. Several important factors are identified for consideration in test protocols so their results reflect real world performance. Potential metrics are examined to highlight their effectiveness in quantifying disaggregation performance. This analysis is then used to suggest performance metrics that are meaningful and of value to potential users and that will enable researchers/developers to identify beneficial ways to improve their technologies.