Optimization of the ANNs Models Performance in the Short-Term Forecasting of the Wind Power of Wind Farms

Due to the low dispatchability of wind power, the massive integration of this energy source in electrical systems requires short-term and very short-term wind farm power output forecasting models to be as efficient and stable as possible. A study is conducted in the present paper of potential improvements to the performance of artificial neural network (ANN) models in terms of efficiency and stability. Generally, current ANN models have been developed by considering exclusively the meteorological information of the wind farm reference station, in addition to selecting a fixed number of time periods prior to the forecasting. In this respect, new ANN models are proposed in this paper, which are developed by: varying the number of prior 1-h periods (periods prior to the prediction hour) chosen for the input layer parameters; and/or incorporating in the input layers data from a second weather station in addition to the wind farm reference station. It has been found that the model performance is always improved when data from a second weather station are incorporated. The mean absolute relative error (MARE) of the new models is reduced by up to 7.5%. Furthermore, the longer the forecast horizon, the greater the degree of improvement

Data augmentation in economic time series: Behavior and improvements in predictions

The performance of neural networks and statistical models in time series prediction is conditioned by the amount of data available. The lack of observations is one of the main factors influencing the representativeness of the underlying patterns and trends. Using data augmentation techniques based on classical statistical techniques and neural networks, it is possible to generate additional observations and improve the accuracy of the predictions. The particular characteristics of economic time series make it necessary that data augmentation techniques do not significantly influence these characteristics, this fact would alter the quality of the details in the study. This paper analyzes the performance obtained by two data augmentation techniques applied to a time series and finally processed by an ARIMA model and a neural network model to make predictions. The results show a significant improvement in the predictions by the time series augmented by traditional interpolation techniques, obtaining a better fit and correlation with the original series

Forecasting wind energy for a data center

Abstract. Data centers are increasingly using renewables such as wind and solar energy. RISE’s ICE data center has already solar panels and is now studying impact of adding a wind turbine into their microgrid. In this thesis, a machine learning model was developed to forecast wind power production for the data center. Data center in Luleå has several applications to utilize wind power forecasting. Renewable energy sources are intermittent, so accurate forecasting of output power reduces a need for additional balancing of energy and reserve power in an electricity grid. Renewable energy can be reserved from market for next hour or next day to maximize its use. Forecasting from 30 min to 6 hours ahead allows job scheduling to optimize usage of renewables and to reduce power consumption. Data center may target to minimize electricity cost or maximize usage of renewables for lower greenhouse gas emissions. Smart microgrid based on artificial intelligence is the way to implement the applications. Two open data sets from India and Sweden have been used in the research. The data available supports choosing of a statistical model. Random forest regression was the model used in the research. Data from India enabled to develop a model for one wind turbine. Developed model forecasted output power well. Swedish data set is from EEM20 competition, it included total wind power production in Sweden and had to be applied to approximate production of one wind turbine in Luleå. To achieve the goal output power of Luleå price region was averaged, and location for the simulation was chosen to be near Luleå. As expected, the accuracy of forecasting with Swedish data was reasonable, but approximations done reduced it. The developed model was applied to RISE’s ICE data center. Validation has been done, but final testing will take place in RISE’s simulation environment. In general, data from northern Sweden is not openly available for wind power forecasting. In addition, any scientific articles covering the geographical area were not found while working on literature review. The study with Swedish competition data gave understanding, which variables are significant in northern Sweden and about their relative importances. Wind gust is such a variable. Using two data sets from different geographical locations proved that climate has a major impact on performance of the trained model. Thus, it is reasonable to use the trained model in locations with similar weather conditions only.Tuulienergian ennustaminen datakeskusta varten. Tiivistelmä. Datakeskukset käyttävät uusiutuvia energialähteitä yhä enemmän. Tällaisia lähteitä ovat mm. tuuli- ja aurinkoenergia. RISE:n ICE datakeskuksella Luulajassa on jo aurinkopaneelit käytössä, ja nyt tutkitaan tuulimyllyn lisäämisen vaikutusta mikroverkkoon. Tässä työssä kehitettiin koneoppimismalli tuulivoiman tuotannon ennustamiseksi datakeskusta varten. Datakeskuksella on useita sovelluksia tuulienergian ennustamisen hyödyntämiseksi. Uusiutuvat energialähteet ovat luonteeltaan vaihtelevia, joten tuotetun tehon tarkka ennustaminen vähentää ylimääräisen säätämisen ja reservitehon tarvetta sähköverkossa yleensäkin. Datakeskus voi varata uusiutuvaa energiaa markkinoilta seuraavaksi tunniksi tai päiväksi uusiutuvan energian käytön maksimoimiseksi. Ennustaminen 30 minuutista 6 tuntiin etukäteen mahdollistaa työjonon aikatauluttamisen uusiutuvien käytön optimoimiseksi ja vähentää tehonkulutusta. Datakeskus voi pyrkiä minimoimaan sähkön käytön kustannuksia, tai pienentämään kasvihuonekaasujen päästöjä käyttämällä mahdollisimman paljon uusiutuvaa energiaa. Tekoälyyn perustuva älykäs mikroverkko on tapa toteuttaa edellä mainitut sovellukset. Tutkimuksessa on käytetty kahta avointa tietoainestoa Intiasta ja Ruotsista. Saatavilla oleva data tukee tilastollisen ennustemallin valintaa. Tässä työssä käytettiin satunnaismetsämenetelmää. Intian dataa käytettiin mallin kehityksessä yhtä tuulimyllyä varten. Kehitetty malli ennusti tuotetun tehon hyvin. Ruotsalainen data perustuu EEM20-kilpailuun, jossa arvioitiin koko Ruotsin tuulivoiman tuotantoa. Sitä olikin sovellettava Luulajassa olevan yhden tuulimyllyn tuotannon arvioimiseksi. Luulajan hinta-alueen tuottama teho keskiarvoistettiin, ja ennustamista varten valittiin maantieteellinen paikka läheltä Luulajaa. Kuten oli odotettavissa, soveltamisessa tehdyt likiarvoistukset pienensivät ennustamisen tarkkuutta, jota voidaan kuitenkin pitää kohtuullisena. Kehitettyä mallia sovellettiin RISE:n ICE datakeskusta varten. Algoritmin validointi on suoritettu, mutta lopullinen testaus tehdään RISE:n simulointiympäristössä. Yleisesti ennustamiseen soveltuvaa dataa ei ole Pohjois-Ruotsista tarjolla. Tieteellisiä artikkeleita ko. maantieteelliseltä alueelta ei löytynyt kirjallisuustutkimusta tehtäessä. Tutkimus ruotsalaisella datalla toi ymmärrystä siihen, mitkä muuttujat ovat merkittäviä Pohjois-Ruotsin alueella sekä niiden suhteellisesta merkityksestä. Kahden eri maantieteellisen alueen tietoaineiston käyttö osoitti, että ilmastolla on huomattava vaikutus koulutetun mallin suorituskykyyn. Näin onkin mielekästä käyttää koulutettua mallia vain sellaisilla alueilla, joiden sääolosuhteet ovat samankaltaiset

Tendencias recientes en el pronóstico de velocidad de viento para generación eólica

Este documento tiene como objetivo presentar un marco unificado para discutir, resumir y organizar los principales avances en pronóstico de velocidad de viento para generación eólica utilizando un método auditable, ordenado y reproducible. Los principales hallazgos fueron: La mayor parte de los trabajos provienen de China y Estados Unidos, las series de tiempo usadas poseen una longitud de menos de un año, comúnmente el pronóstico es realizado en un rango de 1 hora a 48 horas hacia adelante. Muchos estudios usan solamente modelos autoregresivos (Lineares y no lineares) o en muchos casos una sola variable explicatoria. Usualmente la variable pronosticada es la velocidad de viento u la potencia generada. La revisión muestra una tendencia en la que los autores están experimentando con modelos híbridos para obtener las ventajas de cada método utilizado, también, una tendencia a utilizar métodos clásicos como redes neuronales, máquinas de vectores de soporte y modelos autorregresivosAbstract: This document aims to provide a unified frame for discussing, summarizing and organizing the main advances in wind power forecasting using an auditable, orderly and reproducible method. Our main findings are the following: most of works forecasting time series from China and United States; time series data usually cover information with a length lower than a year of data. Commonly, the forecast is done for 1 to 48 hours ahead. Many studies using only autorregresive models (linear or no linear) or, in many cases, one explanatory variable. Usually, the variables forecasted are speed and power. The review shows a tendency in which the authors are experimenting with hybrid models to obtain the advantages of each method used, also, a trend to use classical methods such as neural networks, Support Vector Machines and autoregressive models.Maestrí

Data Mining in Smart Grids

Effective smart grid operation requires rapid decisions in a data-rich, but information-limited, environment. In this context, grid sensor data-streaming cannot provide the system operators with the necessary information to act on in the time frames necessary to minimize the impact of the disturbances. Even if there are fast models that can convert the data into information, the smart grid operator must deal with the challenge of not having a full understanding of the context of the information, and, therefore, the information content cannot be used with any high degree of confidence. To address this issue, data mining has been recognized as the most promising enabling technology for improving decision-making processes, providing the right information at the right moment to the right decision-maker. This Special Issue is focused on emerging methodologies for data mining in smart grids. In this area, it addresses many relevant topics, ranging from methods for uncertainty management, to advanced dispatching. This Special Issue not only focuses on methodological breakthroughs and roadmaps in implementing the methodology, but also presents the much-needed sharing of the best practices. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following: Fuzziness in smart grids computing Emerging techniques for renewable energy forecasting Robust and proactive solution of optimal smart grids operation Fuzzy-based smart grids monitoring and control frameworks Granular computing for uncertainty management in smart grids Self-organizing and decentralized paradigms for information processin

Artificial Intelligence Forecasting Techniques For Reducing Uncertainties In Renewable Energy Applications [védés előtt]

The work presented in this thesis provides an integrated view and related insights for solar and wind farm operators and renewable energy regulators regarding factors influencing electricity production using those resources. The findings help production planning and grid stability improvements through better energy forecasting to reduce uncertainty. With the high increase in energy demand expected in both the near and far future, generating energy from green sustainable resources has now become an imperative necessity. Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are among the most promising and environmentally-friendly energy generation options. However, wind and solar energy production are influenced by many variables which affect the reliability, stability, and economic benefits of wind and solar energy projects, therefore, forecasting the potential amount of energy from wind and solar resources is of great importance. Hence, the objective of the work reported here was to explore the possibility of using artificial intelligence methods to accurately predict the generated renewable power from solar and wind farms based on the available data. Specifically, this thesis reports on the following results: 1. At first, solar photovoltaic (PV) energy forecasting was studied. Operators of grid-connected PV farms do not always have full sets of data available to them, especially over an extended period of time as required by key forecasting techniques such as multiple regression (MR) or artificial neural network (ANN). Therefore, the work reported here considered these two main approaches of building prediction models and compared their performance when utilizing structural, time-series, and hybrid methods for data input. Three years of PV power generation data (of an actual farm), as well as historical weather data (of the same location) with several key variables, were collected and utilized to build and test six prediction models. Models were built and designed to forecast the PV power for a 24-hour ahead horizon with 15 minutes resolutions. Results of comparative performance analysis show that different models have different prediction accuracy depending on the input method used to build the model: ANN models perform better than the MR regardless of the input method used. The hybrid input method results in better prediction accuracy for both MR and ANN techniques while using the time-series method results in the least accurate forecasting models. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis shows that poor data quality does impact forecasting accuracy negatively, especially for the structural approach. 2. Then, wind energy forecasting was studied utilizing three machine learning techniques namely Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Support vector machine (SVM), and k-nearest neighbors (K-NN). The three mentioned techniques were used to design, train and test wind energy, forecasting models. Later, a hybrid model was proposed based on these three techniques. Real data obtained from a 2MW grid-connected wind turbine has been used to train and validate the different machine learning techniques. To compare the accuracy of the models over different performance measures with different scales, a comparative evaluation method was devised and used. Results show that the ANN model has great performance in forecasting long-term wind energy, but in contrast, it has very poor short-term performance. SVM model shows better short-term forecasting performance than ANN but presents weak long-term forecasting abilities. K-NN model shows very good short-term forecasting abilities and fair long-term performance. The suggested hybrid model was able to forecast both long and short-term wind energy with very good performance. To that degree, the suggested model can help grid and wind farm operators to forecast the potential amount of wind energy for both long and short term with a good degree of certainty. 3. Finally, the effect of the input data resolution on the forecasting accuracy was studied for both wind and solar. So, datasets were collected from a 546 KWp grid-connected PV farm and a 2 MW wind turbine for one full year. This data was used to train and test Artificial Neural Network models to forecast day-ahead PV and wind energy utilizing time-series input data with 15, 30, and 60 minutes resolutions. The models were able to forecast the PV energy accurately, while the same models trained for wind showed poor performance. Higher input data resolutions lead to slightly better forecasting performance for the PV farm. Utilizing data with higher resolution can improve the forecast by 1-5%. While for wind energy forecasting, the resolution has very minor effects, the 30-minute resolution shows a bit better forecasting performance

Machine Learning and Geographic Information Systems for large-scale mapping of renewable energy potential

A promising pathway to follow in order to reach sustainable development goals is an increased reliance on renewable sources of energy. The optimized use of these energy sources, however, requires the assessment of their potential supply, along with the demand loads in locations of interest. In particular, large-scale supply estimation studies are needed in order to evaluate areas of high potential for each type of energy source for a particular region, and allow for the elaboration of efficient global energy strategies. In Switzerland, the "Energy Strategy 2050", initiated in 2011 by the Swiss Federal Council, sets an example with the ambitious goal of reaching a 50-80% reduction of CO2 emissions by the year 2050, with a clear course of action: phasing-out nuclear power, improving energy efficiency, and greatly increasing the use of renewables. This thesis develops a general data-driven strategy combining Geographic Information Systems and Machine Learning methods to map the large-scale energy potential for three very popular sources of decentralized energy systems: wind energy (using of horizontal axis wind turbines), geothermal energy (using very shallow ground source heat pumps) and solar energy (using photovoltaic solar panels over rooftops). For each of the three considered energy sources, an adapted methodology is suggested to assess its large-scale potential, by estimating multiple variables of interest (with a suitable time resolution, e.g. monthly or yearly), using widely available data, and combining these variables into potential values. These latter estimated variables, dictating the potential, include: (i) the monthly wind speed, and rural and urban topographic/obstacle configuration for wind energy, (ii) the ground thermal conductivity, volumetric heat capacity and monthly temperature gradient for geothermal energy, (iii) the monthly solar radiation, available area for PV panels over rooftops, geometrical characteristics of rooftops and monthly shading factors over rooftops for solar energy. The use of Machine Learning algorithms (notably Support Vector Machines and Random Forests) allows, given adequate features and training data (examples for some locations), for the prediction of the latter variables at unknown locations, along with the uncertainty attached to the predictions. In each case, the developed methodology is set-up with an aim to be applied for Switzerland, meaning that it relies on Swiss available energy-related data. Such data, however, including meteorological, topographic, ground/soil-related and building-related data, is becoming progressively available for most countries, making it possible to widely generalize the proposed methodologies. Results show that Machine Learning is adequate for energy potential estimation, as the multiple required predictions and spatial extrapolations are achieved with reasonable accuracy. In addition, final values are validated with other existing data or studies when possible, and show general agreement. The application of the suggested potential methodologies in Switzerland outline the very significant potential for the considered renewables. In particular, there is a relatively high potential for Rooftop-Mounted solar PV panels, as it is estimated that they could generate a total electricity production of 16.3 TWh per year, which corresponds to 25.3% of the annual electricity demand in 2017