A Machine Learning Based Methodology for Load Profiles Clustering and Non-Residential Buildings Benchmarking

• Published in: IEEE transactions on industry applications 2023-05, Vol.59 (3), p.2963-2973
• Main Authors: Eiraudo, Simone, Barbierato, Luca, Giannantonio, Roberta, Porta, Alessandro, Lanzini, Andrea, Borchiellini, Romano, Macii, Enrico, Patti, Edoardo, Bottaccioli, Lorenzo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Benchmark testing; benchmarking; Benchmarks; Buildings; Business metrics; Clustering; Clustering algorithms; Energy efficiency; Energy measurement; Key performance indicator; Machine learning; Methodology; non-residential buildings; Nonresidential buildings; Task analysis
• ISSN: 0093-9994; 1939-9367
• DOI: 10.1109/TIA.2023.3240669

Buildings benchmarking based on their electric profiles is a fundamental step to identify, evaluate and then possibly implement energy efficiency oriented actions. Indeed, benchmarking enables comparison among peer buildings or industrial sites and the identification of reference cases, either efficient and inefficient ones. In this regard, temporal data clustering is an effective and widely applicable benchmarking tool. In this work, we propose a novel Machine Learning based methodology, taking advantage of two fundamental tools, namely a decomposition algorithm and a clustering one. Several clustering algorithms have been tested to identify k-Means as the most suitable one. The proposed methodology includes the evaluation of energy Key Performance Indicators for effective analysis and comparison of buildings. The proposed framework has been tested on a real-world case study including around 2000 non-residential buildings. The classification of buildings based on K-Means achieved an accuracy of 99.7% with respect to their usage category. Furthermore, reference Key Performance Indicator values for each cluster are obtained and discussed to understand buildings' energy behaviour and possible reasons for inefficiencies.