Skip to main content

Probabilistic Forecasting of Solar Power: An Ensemble Learning Approach

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Intelligent Decision Technologies (IDT 2017)

Part of the book series: Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies ((SIST,volume 39))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Probabilistic forecasts account for the uncertainty in the prediction helping the decision makers take optimal decisions. With the emergence of renewable technologies and the uncertainties involved with the power generated through them, probabilistic forecasts can come to the rescue. Wind power is a mature technology and is in place for decades now, various probabilistic forecasting techniques are used here. On the other hand solar power is an emerging technology and as the technology matures there will be a need for forecasting the power generated days ahead. In this study, we utilize some of the probabilistic forecasting techniques in the field of solar power forecasting. An ensemble approach is used with different machine learning algorithms and different initial settings assuming normal distribution for the forecasts. It is observed that having multiple models with different initial settings gives exceedingly better results when compared to individual models. Getting accurate forecasts will be of great help where the large scale solar farms are integrated into the power grid.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Altman, N.S.: An introduction to kernel and nearest-neighbor nonparametric regression. Am. Stat. 46(3), 175–185 (1992)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Bacher, P., Madsen, H., Nielsen, H.A.: Online short-term solar power forecasting. Sol. Energy 83(10), 1772–1783 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Breiman, L.: Random forests. Mach. Learn. 45(1), 5–32 (2001)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Breiman, L., Friedman, J., Stone, C., Olshen, R.A.: Classification and regression trees. Taylor & Francis (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Davidson, D.J., Andrews, J.: Not all about consumption. Science 339(6125), 1286–1287 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Friedman, J.H.: Greedy function approximation: a gradient boosting machine. Ann. Stat. 1189–1232 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  7. GEFCOM: Global energy forecasting competition 2014. http://www.drhongtao.com/gefcom (2014)

  8. Gneiting, T., Katzfuss, M.: Probabilistic forecasting. Ann. Rev. Stat. Appl. 1, 125–151 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Goldemberg, J., Johansson, T.B., Anderson, D.: World energy assessment: overview: 2004 Update. United Nations Development Programme, Bureau for Development Policy (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Hoerl, A.E., Kennard, R.W.: Ridge regression: biased estimation for nonorthogonal problems. Technometrics 12(1), 55–67 (1970)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  11. Hong, T.: Energy forecasting: past, present, and future. Foresight: Int. J. Appl. Forecast. Winter 2014, 43–48 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Hossain, M.R., Oo, A.M.T., Shawkat Ali, A.B.M.: Hybrid prediction method for solar power using different computational intelligence algorithms. Smart Grid renew. Energy 4(1), 76–87 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Huang, Y., Lu, J., Liu, C., Xu, X., Wang, W., Zhou, X.: Comparative study of power forecasting methods for PV stations. In: Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Power System Technology (POWERCON), pp. 1–6. IEEE (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  14. International Energy Agency: International energy outlook 2013. http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/archive/ieo13 (2013)

  15. International Energy Agency: Technology roadmap: solar photovoltaic energy—2014 edition. www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/technology-roadmap-solar-photovoltaic-energy--2014-edition.html (2014)

  16. Iversen, E.B., Morales, J.M., Møller, J.K., Madsen, H.: Probabilistic forecasts of solar irradiance using stochastic differential equations. Environmetrics 25(3), 152–164 (2014)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  17. Koenker, R.: Quantile Regression. Cambridge University Press, New York (2005)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  18. Letendre, S.E.: Grab the low-hanging fruit: use solar forecasting before storage to stabilize the grid. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/10/grab-the-low-hanging-fruit-of-grid-integration-with-solar-forecasting (2014)

  19. Marquez, R., Coimbra, C.F.M.: Forecasting of global and direct solar irradiance using stochastic learning methods, ground experiments and the NWS database. Sol. Energy 85(5), 746–756 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Perera, K.S., Aung, Z., Woon, W.L.: Machine learning techniques for supporting renewable energy generation and integration: a survey. In: Data Analytics for Renewable Energy Integration—Second ECML PKDD Workshop, DARE 2014, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 8817, pp. 81–96 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Runyon, J.: Transparency and better forecasting tools needed for the solar industry. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/transparency-and-better-forecasting-tools-needed-for-the-solar-industry (2015)

  22. Tibshirani, R.: Regression shrinkage and selection via the lasso. J. Roy. Stat. Soc.: Ser. (Methodol.) 58(1), 267–288 (1996)

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  23. Wikipedia: Solar power forecasting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_forecasting (2015)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zeyar Aung .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Mohammed, A.A., Yaqub, W., Aung, Z. (2015). Probabilistic Forecasting of Solar Power: An Ensemble Learning Approach. In: Neves-Silva, R., Jain, L., Howlett, R. (eds) Intelligent Decision Technologies. IDT 2017. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 39. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19857-6_38

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19857-6_38

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-19856-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19857-6

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics