Power generation forecasts for wind farms, especially with a short-term horizon, have been extensively researched due to the growing share of wind farms in total power generation. Detailed forecasts are necessary for the optimization of power systems of various sizes. This review and analytical paper is largely focused on a statistical analysis of forecasting errors based on more than one hundred papers on wind generation forecasts. Factors affecting the magnitude of forecasting errors are presented and discussed. Normalized root mean squared error (nRMSE) and normalized mean absolute error (nMAE) have been selected as the main error metrics considered here. A new and unique error dispersion factor (EDF) is proposed, being the ratio of nRMSE to nMAE. The variability of EDF depending on selected factors (size of wind farm, forecasting horizons, and class of forecasting method) has been examined. This is unique and original research, a novelty in studies on errors of power generation forecasts in wind farms. In addition, extensive quantitative and qualitative analyses have been conducted to assess the magnitude of forecasting error depending on selected factors (such as forecasting horizon, wind farm size, and a class of the forecasting method). Based on these analyses and a review of more than one hundred papers, a unique set of recommendations on the preferred content of papers addressing wind farm generation forecasts has been developed. These recommendations would make it possible to conduct very precise benchmarking meta-analyses of forecasting studies described in research papers and to develop valuable general conclusions concerning the analyzed phenomena.
High-quality short-term forecasts of wind farm generation are crucial for the dynamically developing renewable energy generation sector. This article addresses the selection of appropriate gradient-boosted decision tree models (GBDT) for forecasting wind farm energy generation with a 10-min time horizon. In most forecasting studies, authors utilize a single gradient-boosted decision tree model and compare its performance with other machine learning (ML) techniques and sometimes with a naive baseline model. This paper proposes a comprehensive comparison of all gradient-boosted decision tree models (GBDTs, eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Light Gradient-Boosting Machine (LightGBM), and Categorical Boosting (CatBoost)) used for forecasting. The objective is to evaluate each model in terms of forecasting accuracy for wind farm energy generation (forecasting error) and computational time during model training. Computational time is a critical factor due to the necessity of testing numerous models with varying hyperparameters to identify the optimal settings that minimize forecasting error. Forecast quality using default hyperparameters is used here as a reference. The research also seeks to determine the most effective sets of input variables for the predictive models. The article concludes with findings and recommendations regarding the preferred GBDT models. Among the four tested models, the oldest GBDT model demonstrated a significantly longer training time, which should be considered a major drawback of this implementation of gradient-boosted decision trees. In terms of model quality testing, the lowest nRMSE error was achieved by the oldest model—GBDT in its tuned version (with the best hyperparameter values obtained from exploring 40,000 combinations).
The main objective of this study was to conduct multi-stage and multi-variant prognostic research to assess the impact of e-mobility development on the Polish power system for the period 2022–2027. The research steps were as follows: forecast the number of electric vehicles (using seven methods), forecast annual power demand arising solely out of the operation of the forecast number of electric vehicles, forecast annual power demand with and without the impact of e-mobility growth (using six methods), forecast daily profiles of typical days with and without the impact of e-mobility growth (using three methods). For the purpose of this research, we developed a unique Growth Dynamics Model to forecast the number of electric vehicles in Poland. The application of Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) to the extrapolation of non-linear functions (to the forecast number of electric vehicles and forecast annual power demand without the impact of e-mobility growth) is our original, unique proposal to use the Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Another unique, innovative proposal is to include Artificial Neural Networks (Multi-Layer Perceptron and Long short-term memory (LSTM)) in an Ensemble Model for simultaneous extrapolation of 24 non-linear functions to forecast daily profiles of typical days without taking e-mobility into account. This research determined the impact of e-mobility development on the Polish power system, both in terms of annual growth of demand for power and within particular days (hourly distribution) for two typical days (summer and winter). Under the (most likely) balanced growth variant of annual demand for power, due to e-mobility, such demand would grow by more than 4%, and almost 7% under the optimistic variant. Percentage growth of power demand in terms of variation according to time of day was determined. For instance, for the balanced variant, the largest percentage share of e-mobility was in the evening “peak” time (about 6%), and the smallest percentage was in the night “valley” (about 2%).
High-quality short-term forecasts of electrical energy generation in solar power plants are crucial in the dynamically developing sector of renewable power generation. This article addresses the issue of selecting appropriate (preferred) methods for forecasting energy generation from a solar power plant within a 15 min time horizon. The effectiveness of various machine learning methods was verified. Additionally, the effectiveness of proprietary ensemble and hybrid methods was proposed and examined. The research also aimed to determine the appropriate sets of input variables for the predictive models. To enhance the performance of the predictive models, proprietary additional input variables (feature engineering) were constructed. The significance of individual input variables was examined depending on the predictive model used. This article concludes with findings and recommendations regarding the preferred predictive methods.
Reducing the peak power demand at the level of a considered factory and setting the proper operating regimes of electrical devices located in a factory are the problems raised in this paper. These are essential challenges in industrial facilities, especially when existing highly variable loads for power demand, highly variable renewable sources for power generation, and electrical energy storage systems are considered. Appropriate studies relating to this question were performed within the DIEGO international research project (Digital Energy Path for Planning and Operation of Sustainable Grid, Products, and Society). First, the paper presents the technical characteristics of the electric power grid in the considered factory and analyses the results of the measurements performed in the scope of the load and generation of electrical energy in the factory. Next, the paper presents considered preventive measures for limiting peak electric loads at the industrial enterprise level and describes the results of the effectiveness evaluation of the defined preventive measures. The issue of setting the proper operating regimes for electrical devices installed in the factory is also presented. Multi-agent systems have been implemented for this purpose. The paper presents and discusses the results of the implementation.
W referacie przedstawiona została krótka charakterystyka techniczna wewnętrznej sieci elektroenergetycznej rozważanego zakładu przemysłowego. Na podstawie zgromadzonych danych pomiarowych zdefiniowano środki zaradcze, mające na celu ograniczenie szczytowych obciążeń elektrycznych zakładu przemysłowego. W celu weryfikacji skuteczności zaproponowanych środków zaradczych wykonane zostały obliczenia symulacyjne na modelu testowej sieci elektroenergetycznej, zbliżonej do charakterystyki rzeczywistego układu elektroenergetycznego występującego w rozważanym zakładzie przemysłowym. Wnioski z przeprowadzonych badań symulacyjnych oraz przedstawienie kierunków dalszych badań stanowią zakończenie niniejszego referatu.