February 01, 2022

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) published NEMA BIM 100-2021 BIM Data Requirements for Electrical Products in Support of Design, Construction, Operation, and Maintenance. This new standard provides a list of properties and data types for electrical products to enhance Building Information Modeling (BIM) models with interoperable data for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of electrical systems in buildings. It covers light fixtures, electrical devices (receptacles, switches), electrical appliances (refrigerators, ranges), and electrical equipment (circuits, panels, and transformers).

This NEMA BIM 100 is not intended to cover geometry for creating 3-D BIM models. It defines electrical product data requirements with optional levels of compliance to support electrical system design, construction, operation, and maintenance.

“The promise that BIM-enabled projects come together easier and with fewer mistakes has largely been unfulfilled within the architectural consulting world. A lack of consistency in the base product files used in BIM models is the major reason for this potential being unrealized,” said Michael Erbesfeld, Senior Program Manager, NEMA Lighting Division.

“NEMA BIM 100 specifies a common set of parameters to use with electrical product files with the hope that mechanical plumbing and detailed lighting product files will build on this common set of parameters,” he said.

This standard aims to free up architects, consulting engineers, and lighting designers so they can spend more time creating and less time manipulating inconsistent BIM product files.

NEMA BIM 100 is packaged with an accompanying white paper, BIM Content for Electrical Products: Current Status and Industry Needs, and a text file of code, NEMA Standard Shared Parameters, that users can import into Revit, a CAD software system.

NEMA BIM 100-2021 is available on the NEMA website at no cost as an electronic download.