Benchmarking Building Energy Flexibility Using Monitored Data

This paper presents a framework for assessing building energy flexibility using measured data. A Canadian residential building with onsite solar power system is used to demonstrate the methodology. Five energy flexibility metrics are evaluated: self-generation, self-consumption, loss of load probability (LOLP), energy autonomy, and building energy flexibility index (BEFI). The results show that the building generates 43.2% of its energy demand and consumes 43.7% of its PV supply. The LOLP and energy autonomy metrics reveal that the local power supply meets the building’s total demand 40% of the time. Additionally, the building shows a BEFI of 16.4%, and a power density of 12.4 W/m<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup>, indicating its average power flexibility during demand response events. The framework assesses the performance of grid-interactive buildings and provides useful insights for decision-making on effective flexibility strategies. It can be adapted to different building archetypes and is a fundamental preparatory process in developing control-oriented datasets.