Bethany Sparn

NILM Applications for the Energy-Efficient Home

We present a forecast for systems-focused applications of non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM), which meet the needs of homeowners, the technology sector, the service sector, and/or utilities. We discuss both near- and long-term applications.

Frequency Regulation Services from Connected Residential Devices: Short Paper

This paper demonstrates potential benefits that residential buildings can provide for frequency regulation services in the electric power grid. In a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) implementation, simulated homes and a physical laboratory home are coordinated via a grid aggregator, and it is shown that their aggregate response has the potential to follow the regulation signal on a timescale of seconds. Connected (communication-enabled) devices in the National Renewable Energy Laboratorys (NRELs) Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) received demand response (DR) requests from a grid aggregator, and the devices responded to meet the signal while satisfying comfort bounds and physical hardware limitations. Future research will address the issues of cybersecurity threats, participation rates, and reducing equipment wear-and-tear while providing grid services.

Results of Laboratory Testing of Advanced Power Strips

This paper describes the results of a laboratory investigation to evaluate the technical performance of advanced power strip (APS) devices when subjected to a range of home entertainment center and home office usage scenarios.

Grid Connected Functionality

Dataset demonstrating the potential benefits that residential buildings can provide for frequency regulation services in the electric power grid. In a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) implementation, simulated homes along with a physical laboratory home are coordinated via a grid aggregator, and it is shown that their aggregate response has the potential to follow the regulation signal on a timescale of seconds. Connected (communication-enabled), devices in the National Renewable Energy Laboratorys (NRELs) Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) received demand response (DR) requests from a grid aggregator, and the devices responded accordingly to meet the signal while satisfying user comfort bounds and physical hardware limitations.