Solutions for Monitoring and Analysing for Energy

Consumption – Energy Management Systems

Paulo Bandarra, M. Travassos Valdez, Adelino Pereira,
Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra,
ISEC, Coimbra, Portugal ISEC, Coimbra, Portugal ISEC, Coimbra, Portugal
[email protected] [email protected]. [email protected]

Abstract― This paper analyses the procedures of selection legislation or public opinion, reinforced the need for efficient
and installation of equipment that are the basis for energy energy use
monitoring, with accuracy and technical quality, essential to the
liability of the collected data. Energy efficiency plays a key role
There are political tools such as energy or environment
in the development of modern societies. Environmental concerns taxes, the polluter pays principle, penalizing those companies
combined with the high-energy costs have a direct impact on the which are less prepared and less energy efficient. In this
economic development of communities. The intensive energy context, an integrated and permanent computerized
consumption is currently a major concern and all sectors of monitoring and the continuous monitoring of an energy
activity can act to reduce consumption, increase efficiency and
productivity. The sustainability of the economy in each country
manager is a key factor to ensure the success of any program
is directly related to its energy dependence and all mechanisms of consumption reduction.
should be used to identify waste and find energy conservation
opportunities. Energy audits, imposed on intensive energy The approach to energy management involves the analysis
consumers and energy management systems (EMS), of consumption of different forms of energy, using constant
implemented by any company, are tools whose objectives are
energy characterization and rationalization of consumption in a
measuring and monitoring, supported by a software tool. With
facility. These tools may be used to analyse just the bills of this tool the energy manager will find the answers to when,
electric power or, in a more complex way, the bills and the where and how energy is used.
monitoring logs. These energy management systems depend The climate and energy package or “20-20-20” package,
directly on data analysis, which involves the installation of sets the European Union energy efficiency objectives and
measuring and monitoring equipment. The visualization of
equipment consumption estimates helps to optimize the energy
defines energy goals, for all EU countries, to be followed
consumption cycle and allows the analysis of the data available until 2020. It proposes:
in order to take preventive or corrective measures that reflect (A) To achieve a significant reduction by 20% in
the correct characterization of the installation. greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), compared to 1990 levels;
Index Terms - Counters, Energy Consumption, Energy (B) To increase by 20%, the share of renewable energy use
Efficiency, Energy Management Systems, Energy Monitoring. in final consumption;
(C) To reduce primary energy consumption by 20%
I. INTRODUCTION through improvement in the EU's energy efficiency.
The oil crisis of the 70s, and the constant rise in prices has
made energy an important factor of production, since its In the case of Portugal, a 25% reduction in primary energy
inefficient use not only results in financial waste, but also consumption was established, as well as a 30%, reduction in
waste of finite natural resources. public buildings. The aim is also that 31% of final energy
The inefficient use of energy is also a reality in Portugal. consumption and 10% of the total energy used by the
The concept of rational use of energy has changed the way we transport sector comes from renewable sources. The goal is to
see the socio-economic development, proving that it is achieve a balanced energy consumption, reducing the energy
possible to grow without increasing the power consumption dependence of the country and ensuring greater security of
and without affecting the quality of production. supply [1].
The cost of energy in running a business is generally low Due to concerns regarding energy consumption in Portugal,
when compared to the cost of other inputs, such as the cost of a new energy model was implemented based on economic
direct and indirect labour and materials. Thus, the energy rationality and sustainability. It is necessary to adopt energy
management in a company is frequently neglected generating efficient measures and increase considerably the use of
significant waste of energy, money and contributing to a renewable energy sources, to reduce our energy dependence,
lower competitiveness. Although competitiveness continues which will then influence energy prices.
to be the only argument that sensitizes most entrepreneurs, The National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP) and
increasing environmental pressure imposed either by the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy (PNAER),

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arise in this context and intend to ensure compliance with the III. ENERGY MEASUREMENT AND MONITORING
targets set by the European Union. These plans intend to METHODOLOGIES
ensure the continuity of measures, to achieve the development In recent years, there has been great progress in
of the energy model proposed without compromising the technological development in this area. There is a greater
competitiveness of companies and/or the quality of life of demand for energy efficiency imposed by the European
European citizens. Union, with the development of various policies that impose
It is also intended to reinforce the need to adopt and efficiency targets, quite ambitious for many countries,
coordinate energy efficiency programs that already exist, such resulting in increased academic research, new companies and
as Eco.AP program (Energy Efficiency Program in Public specialized technical staff dedicated to the development and
Administration), FEE (Energy Efficiency Fund), PPEC (Plan implementation of these systems.
Promotion of Efficiency in Energy consumption), FAI
A. Non-intrusive monitoring
(Innovation Support Fund), and NSRF (National Strategic
The non-intrusive monitoring of loads requires the
Reference Framework).
development of advanced algorithms that allow the end user
Both plans (NEEAP, PNAER) focus on the compliance
to know the global and disaggregated energy consumption. It
with national and European targets, thus reducing the
minimizes the need for installation of metering equipment,
necessary investment and increasing national
such as current and voltage sensors (IT and TT), becoming its
competitiveness. main advantage over conventional intrusive monitoring
Based on the reduction of primary energy consumption, the devices (Fig 1).
goals are the necessary contribution of the energy sector to
reduce the effect of greenhouse gas emissions; they are also
the energy planning tools to achieve the commitments made
by Portugal towards energy efficiency and the use of
renewable energy sources.
The new PNAEE identifies a total savings of 1,501 ktoe by
the end of 2016.
PNAER targeted three major sectors and the expectations
of consumption, based on renewable energy sources in these
sectors for 2020, are Heating and Cooling 43%, Electricity
47% and Transport 10% [1].
Fig. 1 - Example of application of Intrusive and Non-Intrusive monitoring
methods (NILM) [2]
II. ENERGY MEASUREMENT AND MONITORING
The measurement and monitoring of energy use involves The non-intrusive monitoring of loads is a complex method
the installation and development of specific hardware and based on the following assumptions:
software in order to measure the performance of various • All power users should have a SmartMeter (intelligent
electric, water and gas equipment with a good approximation, power meter);
in order to characterize globally, and also to disaggregate the • All devices must have a "signature", a kind of fingerprint
consumption of an installation. that can be identified when analysing the energy of an
It is possible to increase the energy efficiency of an installation.
installation with effective monitoring of energy consumption, If one takes into account Directive 2009/72/EC for
by identifying the energy peaks and their causes, the misuse electricity and Directive 2009/73/EC for gas, whose
of energy, less efficient equipment and defects found. It is a replacement targets at least 80% of conventional meters for
powerful information tool or power service for a "smart meter system" [3] it may be accomplished by 2020.
user/company wishing to analyse and identify the However, there are few studies on the development of
opportunities of rationalization of energy consumption. advanced algorithms; it is a very complex problem to
Monitoring allows the estimate of the amount of energy implement, that requires the combination of several factors.
used, its immediate cost and environmental impact and should For example:
trigger an energy-awareness culture, encouraging consumers • The design of a solution that enables the identification of
all equipment and the "signature" profile (fingerprint) for
to adopt behaviour changes, to reduce consumption and hence
each energy-using equipment. The signature is the basic unit
reduce energy bills. The results can be quite useful for
of nonintrusive monitoring process;
different entities, including the final consumer himself
• Advanced power meters; the key variables for this system
(receiving the consumption pattern and identifying possible
are usually the voltage, current or power, harmonics and
interventions to save energy), managers of energy audits for signal noise;
certifications, public entities, service buildings, industry and • The long-term investment in research on advanced
even equipment manufacturers. algorithms that allow this methodology;

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 A system necessarily implies a high interaction with the
user and flexibility of the algorithm; the phase of the training
algorithm / learning in the allocation of subscriptions to a load
is a complex challenge. This phase is quite long and
exhaustive when facing a real situation, requiring human
intervention and supervision, which is one of the limiting
factors of this methodology;
The non-intrusive monitoring of loads, currently, is not a
viable solution for the measurement of energy and effective
control because it does not cover all types of loads and cannot
be a viable solution. It continues to be the subject of academic
and business research, and their efforts and results can be Fig. 3 - Consumption of natural gas (kWh) in conventional dwellings of usual
followed in some research forums [4] dedicated to the residence [5]
development of this methodology on the theme of
disaggregated consumption.
B. Intrusive monitoring
The intrusive monitoring encompasses the more
conventional methods on the market. This methodology
drives the technological development to the design of new
solutions and equipment to ensure its full operation.
It consists in the installation of meters, measuring sensors,
and control equipment. Compared with NILM, the
disadvantage is clear in Fig. 1, using more devices, counters,
and sensors. However, for a complete analysis in which a Fig. 4 - Average energy consumption by conventional dwelling of usual
consumption of disaggregation is necessary, this methodology residence [5]
is to date the most effective.
It can be concluded from the graph analysis (Figs 2-4) that
the household sources of energy with increased use are
IV. SELECTION AND INSTALATION OF EQUIPMENT electricity and gas. This demonstrates the importance of using
BY CONSUMPTION SECTOR
equipment that allows, on an ongoing basis, the monitoring of
A. Residential / domestic installations this consumption and helps to identify the opportunities to
The monitoring and energy management for residential rationalize it.
users allows the continuous assessment and measurement of The monitoring solutions and residential energy
consumption and corrective action. There are programs that management provide data for electricity consumption.
allow access to consumption, from any location on a Control over equipment can turn residents into energy
computer, tablet or smartphone. They also offer a remote managers, responsible for identifying opportunities for
energy management service to support the optimization of rationalization and implementation of measures and makes it
energy consumption and thus reduce the energy bill. There is possible to identify bad practices in energy use helping a
also a reduction of the ecological footprint and greenhouse more appropriate choice of tariffs. In most cases, it implies
gas emissions. behavioural changes in relation to consumer habits.
The need for energy conservation in the residential / B. Services, industry and energy production and transport
household sector (Portugal) is evident when considering the The industry sector, private households and services
available data on the INE [5] in relation to energy account for the majority of energy consumption. It can be
consumption per user (Figs 2-4). concluded that the key national policies of competitiveness
and sustainability should focus on energy efficiency in these
sectors.
It is also common knowledge that the transport sector is
largely responsible for our dependency on oil-based products.
The rationalization of this sector is also important and there
are energy conservation measures, with zero or almost zero
investment, which may increase the potential for energy
savings in the sector. Such measures do not require
modification of technology. Clearly, an energy efficiency
policy should apply efforts in these four sectors, for short-
Fig. 2 – Consumption of electricity (kWh) in conventional dwellings of usual
residence [5] term results.

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 The selection and installation of equipment for monitoring TABLE 1
OPERATING PROCEDURE: ENERGY SOLUTIONS INSTALLATION
and energy management in the sectors of trade / services and
industry / production requires a very detailed analysis of the OPERATIONAL ROUTINE
facilities and specialized technical staff for the preparation
and management of the technical component of the entire ENERGY SOLUTIONS INSTALLATION
project.
Table 1 demonstrates the procedures to carry out a phase of

Scope
Setting the operating procedure for the installation of energy
high technical specificity of an energy audit / implementation measurement and monitoring solutions
of an energy management system, preceded by the early
• Requirements Installation / Sector • Electric schemes, or
stages of previous audits and / or site visits, and later stages of
• Survey of site conditions (where changes to the original.
analysis and identification of consumption rationalization
applicable), accessibility, work at • Sheet installation /
opportunities based on the data collected.
height, working hours, security. maintenance.
Upon completion of this phase, the data serves as the basis

Outputs
Imputs
• Requisition of technical • Diagram of installation
for future work on preventive and corrective interventions,
documentation, associated plants, connections.
contributing to optimized and more efficient work,
electrical control and power schemes, • Manual installation /
minimizing errors due to lack of information or ignorance.
documentation of electrical equipment maintenance.
C. Voltage transformers (VT) equipment, gas and water. • Photos of the installation.
The voltage transformers, designed for different primary • Photos of all places
voltages, depend on the nominal line voltage where they are

Step
installed, assuming that the operating voltage of 1.2 times the PROCEDURE Responsible Document Registration
nominal value [6]. The secondary voltages are 100V or 110V,
• Technologies;
phase-to-phase voltage and 110/√3 V for single voltage
• Parameters to measure and
transformers.
monitor; Power Installation Sheet
The technical characteristics that define the voltage
Installation Diagram
1

• Technology to be used for

transformers are as follows:
measuring and monitoring; Wiring diagrams
• Rated insulation voltage: the transformer is set with a
• installation constraints;
voltage in accordance with the test and its dielectric
• Safety requirements;
characteristics corresponding to the higher voltage network
• Prepare the solution according
where the upper limit is installed,
to the installation sheet and
• Conversion ratio: ratio between voltages, primary and Technical
associated documentation;
secondary; engineer
• Identification of selected
• Precision Power: apparent power (VA) that the
equipment, datasheets and
transformer can provide to the respective secondary circuit
certificates;
without errors exceeding the limits of accuracy;
2

• Planning of installation
• Accuracy class: fixing the guaranteed error limits of the
according to existing resources
respective transformation ratio;
and installation constraints;
• Heating power: power limit that the transformer can Power Installation Sheet
• Identification of the necessary
supply so that the heating caused their bodies do not exceed
parameters and settings
the allowable limits of operational safety; according to specifications of

D. Current Transformers (IT) the selected software;

These transformers are constructed for different primary Technical

current and secondary current of 1A or 5A. Its conversion • Installation according to the engineer
ratio is the ratio between the primary and secondary currents.
3

planning solution; +installation

The technical characteristics that define the current teams
transformers are:
• Check the correct operation of
• Rated insulation voltage: the transformer is set with a
equipment (readings) on site.
voltage in accordance with the test and its dielectric
• Installation Sheet with the test
characteristics corresponding to the higher voltage network,
results;
where the upper limit is installed; Technical
Power Installation Sheet
4

• Installation validation
• Primary and secondary rated currents: current intensities engineer
software, locally or remotely.
for which the transformer is designed;
• Send photos and installation of
• Precision Power: apparent power (VA) that the
sheet for all project
transformer can provide the respective secondary circuit
stakeholders.
without the errors exceeding the limits of accuracy;

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 • Accuracy class: fixing the guaranteed limits of errors of It is in the building/services sector that there is an increase
the respective transformation ratio; of power consumption and IT should be a target of policy for
• Insulation levels should be in accordance with IEC behaviour change.
61869-2 [7]; The equipment that exists for home monitoring has also
• For protective effects of secondary circuits from high great value and ability to increase user-awareness to practices
voltages, one of the secondary terminals of the current that generate energy from waste.
transformers should have an earthed supply; For industry and energy production, where there is an
• The selection of measurement transformers made intensive consumption, the measuring and monitoring plays a
according to survey data, the installation sheet and EN 60228 key role in sustaining replacement decisions and maintenance
defines the ohmic resistance value drivers. of equipment, consumption rationalization and selection of
appropriate tariff.
E. Wire connection
The increase in energy consumption is current a problem
If 6-wire connection is used, the total length of the wire
that is transversal to all civilizations, and the access to energy
will be two times the distance between the CT and the relay.
may be conditioned in the future if measures are not taken to
However, in many cases a common return conductor is used
rationalize energy consumption.
(Fig. 5). Then, instead of multiplying the distance by two, a
The non-intrusive monitoring methodology loads can be a
factor of 1.2 is typically used. This rule only applies to the 3-
very useful tool for measuring and monitoring, when the
phase connection. The factor 1.2 allows for a situation, where
difficulties are identified and overcome.
up to 20% of the electrical conductor length, including
The constant evolution of technology will be imperative in
terminal resistances, uses 6-wire connection and at least 80%
implementing the concept of energy efficiency, measurement
4-wire connection.
and monitoring. The manufacturers of the electrical
components will add these features to electrical equipment, in
addition to equipment protection functions and people.
Users will be able to consult their consumption locally and
remotely, with programs available from equipment
manufacturers or their energy supplier.
The investment in renewable energy today has a very
Fig. 5 - CT connections, 6-wire and 4-wire (common return conductor) [8] important role in the management of resources, particularly in
the production and consumption of electricity. Individually
If, for example, the distance between the CT and the relay we cannot control the energy prices and efficiency policies, so
is 5 meters, the total length is 2 x 5 m = 10 meter for 6-wire the organizations should have the will to change behaviour
connection, but only 1.2 x 5 m = 6.0 meter when 4-wire and manage their own consumption, setting an example that
connection is used. will bring clear benefits.
V. CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES
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