The prediction accuracy of short-term load forecast (STLF) depends on prediction model choice and feature selection result. In this paper, a novel random forest (RF)-based feature selection method for STLF is proposed. First, 243 related features were extracted from historical load data and the time information of prediction points to form the original feature set. Subsequently, the original feature set was used to train an RF as the original model. After the training process, the prediction error of the original model on the test set was recorded and the permutation importance (PI) value of each feature was obtained. Then, an improved sequential backward search method was used to select the optimal forecasting feature subset based on the PI value of each feature. Finally, the optimal forecasting feature subset was used to train a new RF model as the final prediction model. Experiments showed that the prediction accuracy of RF trained by the optimal forecasting feature subset was higher than that of the original model and comparative models based on support vector regression and artificial neural network.

The fault characteristics of the rolling bearings of wind turbine gearboxes are unstable under actual operating conditions. Problems such as inadequate fault sample data, imbalanced data types, and noise labels (error labels) in historical data occur. Consequently, the accuracy of wind turbine gearbox bearing fault diagnosis under actual operating conditions is insufficient. Hence, a new method for the fault diagnosis of wind turbine gearbox bearings under actual operating conditions is proposed. It uses an improved label-noise robust auxiliary classifier generative adversarial network (rAC-GAN) driven by limited data. The improved rAC-GAN realizes a batch comparison between the generated and real data to ensure the quality of the generated data and improve the generalization capability of the model in scenarios of actual operating conditions. It can be used to generate a large number of multitype fault data that satisfy the characteristics of the probability distribution of real samples and displays higher robustness to label noises. Experiments indicate that compared with other methods, the new method exhibits a higher accuracy in the multistate classification of rolling bearings under actual operating conditions when driven by limited data with noise labels.

Mechanical fault diagnosis of high-voltage circuit breakers (HVCBs) based on vibration signal analysis is one of the most significant issues in improving the reliability and reducing the outage cost for power systems. The limitation of training samples and types of machine faults in HVCBs causes the existing mechanical fault diagnostic methods to recognize new types of machine faults easily without training samples as either a normal condition or a wrong fault type. A new mechanical fault diagnosis method for HVCBs based on variational mode decomposition (VMD) and multi-layer classifier (MLC) is proposed to improve the accuracy of fault diagnosis. First, HVCB vibration signals during operation are measured using an acceleration sensor. Second, a VMD algorithm is used to decompose the vibration signals into several intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). The IMF matrix is divided into submatrices to compute the local singular values (LSV). The maximum singular values of each submatrix are selected as the feature vectors for fault diagnosis. Finally, a MLC composed of two one-class support vector machines (OCSVMs) and a support vector machine (SVM) is constructed to identify the fault type. Two layers of independent OCSVM are adopted to distinguish normal or fault conditions with known or unknown fault types, respectively. On this basis, SVM recognizes the specific fault type. Real diagnostic experiments are conducted with a real SF₆ HVCB with normal and fault states. Three different faults (i.e., jam fault of the iron core, looseness of the base screw, and poor lubrication of the connecting lever) are simulated in a field experiment on a real HVCB to test the feasibility of the proposed method. Results show that the classification accuracy of the new method is superior to other traditional methods.

In order to improve the identification accuracy of the high voltage circuit breakers’ (HVCBs) mechanical fault types without training samples, a novel mechanical fault diagnosis method of HVCBs using a hybrid classifier constructed with Support Vector Data Description (SVDD) and fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering method based on Local Mean Decomposition (LMD) and time segmentation energy entropy (TSEE) is proposed. Firstly, LMD is used to decompose nonlinear and non-stationary vibration signals of HVCBs into a series of product functions (PFs). Secondly, TSEE is chosen as feature vectors with the superiority of energy entropy and characteristics of time-delay faults of HVCBs. Then, SVDD trained with normal samples is applied to judge mechanical faults of HVCBs. If the mechanical fault is confirmed, the new fault sample and all known fault samples are clustered by FCM with the cluster number of known fault types. Finally, another SVDD trained by the specific fault samples is used to judge whether the fault sample belongs to an unknown type or not. The results of experiments carried on a real SF₆ HVCB validate that the proposed fault-detection method is effective for the known faults with training samples and unknown faults without training samples.

Mechanical faults of high voltage circuit breakers (HVCBs) are one of the most important factors that affect the reliability of power system operation. Because of the limitation of a lack of samples of each fault type; some fault conditions can be recognized as a normal condition. The fault diagnosis results of HVCBs seriously affect the operation reliability of the entire power system. In order to improve the fault diagnosis accuracy of HVCBs; a method for mechanical fault diagnosis of HVCBs based on wavelet time-frequency entropy (WTFE) and one-class support vector machine (OCSVM) is proposed. In this method; the S-transform (ST) is proposed to analyze the energy time-frequency distribution of HVCBs’ vibration signals. Then; WTFE is selected as the feature vector that reflects the information characteristics of vibration signals in the time and frequency domains. OCSVM is used for judging whether a mechanical fault of HVCBs has occurred or not. In order to improve the fault detection accuracy; a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is employed to optimize the parameters of OCSVM; including the window width of the kernel function and error limit. If the mechanical fault is confirmed; a support vector machine (SVM)-based classifier will be used to recognize the fault type. The experiments carried on a real SF₆ HVCB demonstrated the improved effectiveness of the new approach.

Microgrid systems, such as solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbine (WT), integrated with diesel generator can provide adequate energy to supply increased demands and are economically feasible for current and future use considering depletion of conventional sources. It is, thus, important to determine the appropriate sizes of PV, WT, diesel generator, and associated energy storage system (ESS) for efficient, economic, and reliable operation of electric power system in microgrid. Stochastic nature of intermittent renewable energy (RE) resources complicate their planning, integration, and operation of electric power system. Therefore, it is critical to generate typical scenarios of wind speed, irradiation, and load time series to reflect their stochastic characteristic for microgrid system planning and operation. In this study, a wind‐irradiation‐load typical scenarios generation method is proposed for optimal sizing RE resources of microgrid. The teaching‐learning‐based optimisation (TLBO) method is used to find the best configuration of the microgrid system. Simulation results show that scenarios generated by the proposed model have ability to approximate the original scenarios and reduce planning data effectively.