Measurement & Verification

BPA is a contributing organizational supporter to the Efficiency Valuation Organization, a non-profit organization whose products and services help people implement and invest in energy-efficiency projects worldwide. Efficiency Valuation Organization maintains the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol, which includes the Core Concepts and several other documents. These documents are available for download here*.

Please note: BPA provides the M&V documents posted on this site for free download and use. Please consider referencing or citing these documents when using them for your energy-efficiency program M&V offers.

* The Efficiency Valuation Organization website requires users to create login credentials to access the reference materials. 

• Provides an overview of BPA’s M&V protocols, application and reference guides.
• Gives direction based on practical considerations and regional M&V experience for the appropriate guide to use for energy-efficiency projects in Section 2. An example M&V plan is in Section 3.
• Features full citations, including websites for referenced documents in Section 4. 

• Intended for measures that change load or operating hours, or load and hours. 
• Appropriate for non-interactive measures and can address interactive measures in limited circumstances. It is adherent with International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol Options A and B. These options are featured in the Core Concepts* document. 

• Intended for measures involving equipment whose energy use is impacted by the measure(s) and multiple independent variables not affected by the measure.  
• Appropriate for interactions between measures, but the ability to distinguish between savings for each measure is dependent upon the level of sub-metering and the types of measures.

• Intended for measures involving equipment whose energy use is impacted by the measure(s) and by a single independent variable, such as production rate, is not affected by the measure. 
• Appropriate for non-interactive measures and can address interactive measures in limited circumstances. This protocol is an application of Verification by Energy Modeling for the simple case of one-variable models. It is adherent with International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol Options B and C. These options are featured in the Core Concepts* document.

• Provides guidance to ensure energy savings for qualified changes in existing buildings or new construction projects, using either engineering calculations or simulations, including calculation review and verification of the measures’ potential to perform as intended.
• It can be used instead of a comprehensive M&V protocol for projects with expected savings less than 200,000 kWh, or projects for which other criteria dictate that total adherence to the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol is not possible or not appropriate. BPA Energy Efficiency engineering staff retains discretion as to whether a project with annual energy savings more than 200,000 kWh may use this protocol and remain consistent with BPA’s Implementation Manual requirements.

End-Use Metering Absent Baseline Measurement Application Guide 

• Intended for energy-efficient equipment without a directly measurable baseline, including:
  • Newly constructed facilities.
  • Major additions to an existing facility.
  • Replacement of failed equipment.

• Intended for existing buildings with commissioning projects resulting in multiple measures with interactive effects between measures. This is a specific application of Verification by Energy Modeling and is adherent with International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol Options B and C. These options are featured in the Core Concepts* document. 

Existing Building Commissioning Application Guide

• Intended for existing buildings with commissioning projects resulting in multiple measures with interactive effects between measures. This is a specific application of Verification by Energy Modeling and is adherent with International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol Options B and C. These options are featured in the Core Concepts* document. 

Estimating Peak Demand Impacts Application Guide

• Provides guidance on the estimation of peak demand impacts. Energy-efficiency projects that save energy during the periods when the electrical system is most constrained also deliver peak demand (kW) or capacity savings.

Peak-demand savings analysis is an exercise in time differentiation. Instead of quantifying how much energy is saved — which is the focus of the other BPA M&V protocols — peak-demand savings analysis asks the question, “When is the energy saved?,” for those specifically interested in the average savings during a very narrow portion of the year.

• Sampling for M&V provides a simple explanation of sampling terms, principles and methods. Useful for projects comprised of many identical measures, such as lighting.
• Regression for M&V provides a simple explanation of regression modeling terms, principles and methods. A companion to the Energy Modeling guide.
• Glossary for M&V provides definitions of technical terms used in the guides.
• Commercial & Industrial SEM M&V Reference Guide provides consistent site-specific M&V guidance in implementing Commercial and Industrial (C&I) SEM Programs. Intended users include SEM program administrators, program implementers, BPA Engineers, and program evaluators.

• Potential Analytics for Non-Routine Adjustments, or NRA, prepared by SBW Consulting and published in 2018, provides a framework for assessing and treatment of Non-Routine Events, including analytics for associated NRA and several examples using different approaches.
• BPA Strategic Energy Management (SEM) C&I M&V Reference Guide Development Market Research Findings Summary Report was prepared by Facility Energy Solutions, with contributions from Energy 350 and Stillwater Energy, and published in December 2021.  The report presents findings from market research conducted to inform updates and development of a combined commercial and industrial Strategic Energy Management guideline for Bonneville Power Administration (BPA).
• June 1 and 2, 2022 BPA C&I SEM M&V Reference Guide Webinar Training Materials
• M&V Protocol Training Video
• BPA Webinar: ACEEE Industrial Heat Pump Overview Video