International Journal "Information Models and Analyses" Volume 7, Number 2, © 2018 114
A STUDY ON PATTERN DISCOVERY OF SMART METER DATA FOR ENERGY
EFFICIENCY
Sarah Osama, Marco Alfonse, Abdel-Badeeh M. Salem
Abstract: Infinite massive amount of data are being generated from smart meters. Precious information
can be obtained by analyzing these data for efficient use of energy. Data mining algorithms are
extensively used for extracting these valuable information. Researchers have been focusing on
developing energy management solutions for a cleaner environment. Recognizing residents behavior
and provisioning a feedback continuously about their usage is one of the effective ways to save energy
in residential sector. It is assumed that the more they know and understand their consumption, the more
they can track their behavior and save energy. This paper presents a study on the recent research
covered for understanding behavior of household energy consumption using pattern mining algorithms
as well as applications developed for reducing energy consumption and achieving a much better and
efficient use of energy. The pattern discovery techniques applied during the recent 5 years are also
presented.
Keywords: Smart Grid, Smart Meters, Pattern Mining, Smart Home, Energy Management.
ACM Classification Keywords: Smart Grid, Smart Metering.
Introduction
WITH the evolution of new technologies, energy demand is increasing expeditiously. According to the
US energy information administration annual report for 2017, residential and commercial sectors are
contributing by 40% of the total power in US [EIA, Online]. Mining consumption data at increased level
of granularity has attracted the keen interest of industrial and governmental sectors. Governments such
as Australia, Canada, Europe, Korea, Ireland, Japan, UK and USA are investing in smart meters
deployment although it is very costly and requires huge IT and communication infrastructure [Smart
Grid, Online]. Smart meters are considered as a key component for initializing smart grid environment.
Smart grid [Hassan, Radman, 2010] is a network of utilities, smart meters, transmission lines and power
plants integrated together. The grid is called smart for being able to communicate in bidirectional way
and making real time decisions. The current power electric grid is facing a lot of challenges and the
smart grid, considered as its next generation, has emerged for tackling these challenges such as
system stress and blackouts [Fang et al, 2012].