An inquiry into the effect of thermal energy meter density and configuration on load disaggregation accuracy

Initial and maintenance costs often prevent dense submeter installations that enable room-level thermal energy monitoring. Previous studies suggested that building automation system (BAS) trend data represents an untapped potential to disaggregate existing meter data for heating and cooling into device- and system-level end-uses. These techniques disaggregate meter data by analyzing trend data that provide contextual information regarding the operating status of energy-consuming equipment. However, the level of submetering required to enable end-use disaggregation has yet to be studied. To this end, this paper investigates the effect of submeter density and configuration on the performance of a regression-based disaggregation strategy using BAS trend data as predictors. The method was evaluated in two steps; first, using synthetic meter and BAS trend data generated by a building performance simulation (BPS) model of a government office building, and second, with submeter data from a real office building. The results highlight the factors affecting the minimum number of heating energy submeters needed to be installed in both buildings for accurate device- and system-level disaggregation. The methodology presented in the paper can also inform changes in building design codes and standards regarding the minimum density and appropriate configuration for submetering.