Abstract:
M&V (Measurement and Verification) has become an indispensable process in various incentive EEDSM
(energy efficiency and demand side management) programmes to accurately and reliably measure and
verify the project performance in terms of energy and/or cost savings. Due to the uncertain nature of the
unmeasurable savings, there is an inherent trade-off between the M&V accuracy and M&V cost. In order
to achieve the required M&V accuracy cost-effectively, we propose a combined spatial and longitudinal
MCM (metering cost minimisation) model to assist the design of optimal M&V metering plans, which
minimises the metering cost whilst satisfying the required measurement and sampling accuracy of M&V.
The objective function of the proposed MCM model is the M&V metering cost that covers the procurement,
installation and maintenance of the metering system whereas the M&V accuracy requirements
are formulated as the constraints. Optimal solutions to the proposed MCM model offer useful
information in designing the optimal M&V metering plan. The advantages of the proposed MCM model
are demonstrated by a case study of an EE lighting retrofit project and the model is widely applicable to
other M&V lighting projects with different population sizes and sampling accuracy requirements.
