IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v12y2019i9p1621-d226792.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Day-Ahead Photovoltaic Forecasting: A Comparison of the Most Effective Techniques

Author

Listed:
  • Alfredo Nespoli

    (Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, 20156 Milano, Italy)

  • Emanuele Ogliari

    (Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, 20156 Milano, Italy)

  • Sonia Leva

    (Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, 20156 Milano, Italy)

  • Alessandro Massi Pavan

    (Department of Engineering and Architecture, Università degli Studi di Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy)

  • Adel Mellit

    (Renewable Energy Laboratory, Jijel University, Jijel 18000, Algeria)

  • Vanni Lughi

    (Department of Engineering and Architecture, Università degli Studi di Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy)

  • Alberto Dolara

    (Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, 20156 Milano, Italy)

Abstract

We compare the 24-hour ahead forecasting performance of two methods commonly used for the prediction of the power output of photovoltaic systems. Both methods are based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), which have been trained on the same dataset, thus enabling a much-needed homogeneous comparison currently lacking in the available literature. The dataset consists of an hourly series of simultaneous climatic and PV system parameters covering an entire year, and has been clustered to distinguish sunny from cloudy days and separately train the ANN. One forecasting method feeds only on the available dataset, while the other is a hybrid method as it relies upon the daily weather forecast. For sunny days, the first method shows a very good and stable prediction performance, with an almost constant Normalized Mean Absolute Error, NMAE%, in all cases (1% < NMAE% < 2%); the hybrid method shows an even better performance (NMAE% < 1%) for two of the days considered in this analysis, but overall a less stable performance (NMAE% > 2% and up to 5.3% for all the other cases). For cloudy days, the forecasting performance of both methods typically drops; the performance is rather stable for the method that does not use weather forecasts, while for the hybrid method it varies significantly for the days considered in the analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Alfredo Nespoli & Emanuele Ogliari & Sonia Leva & Alessandro Massi Pavan & Adel Mellit & Vanni Lughi & Alberto Dolara, 2019. "Day-Ahead Photovoltaic Forecasting: A Comparison of the Most Effective Techniques," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:9:p:1621-:d:226792
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/9/1621/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/9/1621/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mellit, A. & Sağlam, S. & Kalogirou, S.A., 2013. "Artificial neural network-based model for estimating the produced power of a photovoltaic module," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 71-78.
    2. Das, Utpal Kumar & Tey, Kok Soon & Seyedmahmoudian, Mehdi & Mekhilef, Saad & Idris, Moh Yamani Idna & Van Deventer, Willem & Horan, Bend & Stojcevski, Alex, 2018. "Forecasting of photovoltaic power generation and model optimization: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 912-928.
    3. Leva, S. & Dolara, A. & Grimaccia, F. & Mussetta, M. & Ogliari, E., 2017. "Analysis and validation of 24 hours ahead neural network forecasting of photovoltaic output power," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 88-100.
    4. Claudio Monteiro & Tiago Santos & L. Alfredo Fernandez-Jimenez & Ignacio J. Ramirez-Rosado & M. Sonia Terreros-Olarte, 2013. "Short-Term Power Forecasting Model for Photovoltaic Plants Based on Historical Similarity," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(5), pages 1-20, May.
    5. Fernandez-Jimenez, L. Alfredo & Muñoz-Jimenez, Andrés & Falces, Alberto & Mendoza-Villena, Montserrat & Garcia-Garrido, Eduardo & Lara-Santillan, Pedro M. & Zorzano-Alba, Enrique & Zorzano-Santamaria,, 2012. "Short-term power forecasting system for photovoltaic plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 311-317.
    6. d'Alessandro, Vincenzo & Di Napoli, Fabio & Guerriero, Pierluigi & Daliento, Santolo, 2015. "An automated high-granularity tool for a fast evaluation of the yield of PV plants accounting for shading effects," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 294-304.
    7. Donghun Lee & Kwanho Kim, 2019. "Recurrent Neural Network-Based Hourly Prediction of Photovoltaic Power Output Using Meteorological Information," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-22, January.
    8. Alberto Dolara & Francesco Grimaccia & Sonia Leva & Marco Mussetta & Emanuele Ogliari, 2015. "A Physical Hybrid Artificial Neural Network for Short Term Forecasting of PV Plant Power Output," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-16, February.
    9. Yu. A. Ul’yanin & V. V. Kharitonov & D. Yu. Yurshina, 2018. "Forecasting the Dynamics of the Depletion of Conventional Energy Resources," Studies on Russian Economic Development, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 153-160, March.
    10. Diagne, Maimouna & David, Mathieu & Lauret, Philippe & Boland, John & Schmutz, Nicolas, 2013. "Review of solar irradiance forecasting methods and a proposition for small-scale insular grids," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 65-76.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Samu, Remember & Calais, Martina & Shafiullah, G.M. & Moghbel, Moayed & Shoeb, Md Asaduzzaman & Nouri, Bijan & Blum, Niklas, 2021. "Applications for solar irradiance nowcasting in the control of microgrids: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    2. Nguyen, Thi Ngoc & Müsgens, Felix, 2022. "What drives the accuracy of PV output forecasts?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    3. Gabriel Mendonça de Paiva & Sergio Pires Pimentel & Bernardo Pinheiro Alvarenga & Enes Gonçalves Marra & Marco Mussetta & Sonia Leva, 2020. "Multiple Site Intraday Solar Irradiance Forecasting by Machine Learning Algorithms: MGGP and MLP Neural Networks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-28, June.
    4. Ahn, Hyeunguk, 2024. "A framework for developing data-driven correction factors for solar PV systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    5. Limouni, Tariq & Yaagoubi, Reda & Bouziane, Khalid & Guissi, Khalid & Baali, El Houssain, 2023. "Accurate one step and multistep forecasting of very short-term PV power using LSTM-TCN model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 1010-1024.
    6. Kelachukwu J. Iheanetu, 2022. "Solar Photovoltaic Power Forecasting: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-31, December.
    7. Thi Ngoc Nguyen & Felix Musgens, 2021. "What drives the accuracy of PV output forecasts?," Papers 2111.02092, arXiv.org.
    8. Hassan, Muhammed A. & Bailek, Nadjem & Bouchouicha, Kada & Nwokolo, Samuel Chukwujindu, 2021. "Ultra-short-term exogenous forecasting of photovoltaic power production using genetically optimized non-linear auto-regressive recurrent neural networks," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 191-209.
    9. Martina Radicioni & Valentina Lucaferri & Francesco De Lia & Antonino Laudani & Roberto Lo Presti & Gabriele Maria Lozito & Francesco Riganti Fulginei & Riccardo Schioppo & Mario Tucci, 2021. "Power Forecasting of a Photovoltaic Plant Located in ENEA Casaccia Research Center," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-22, January.
    10. Aleksandar Dimovski & Matteo Moncecchi & Davide Falabretti & Marco Merlo, 2020. "PV Forecast for the Optimal Operation of the Medium Voltage Distribution Network: A Real-Life Implementation on a Large Scale Pilot," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-21, October.
    11. Ladislav Zjavka, 2021. "Photovoltaic Energy All-Day and Intra-Day Forecasting Using Node by Node Developed Polynomial Networks Forming PDE Models Based on the L-Transformation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-14, November.
    12. Sameer Al-Dahidi & Osama Ayadi & Jehad Adeeb & Mohammad Alrbai & Bashar R. Qawasmeh, 2018. "Extreme Learning Machines for Solar Photovoltaic Power Predictions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, October.
    13. Sarmas, Elissaios & Spiliotis, Evangelos & Stamatopoulos, Efstathios & Marinakis, Vangelis & Doukas, Haris, 2023. "Short-term photovoltaic power forecasting using meta-learning and numerical weather prediction independent Long Short-Term Memory models," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    14. Athanasios I. Salamanis & Georgia Xanthopoulou & Napoleon Bezas & Christos Timplalexis & Angelina D. Bintoudi & Lampros Zyglakis & Apostolos C. Tsolakis & Dimosthenis Ioannidis & Dionysios Kehagias & , 2020. "Benchmark Comparison of Analytical, Data-Based and Hybrid Models for Multi-Step Short-Term Photovoltaic Power Generation Forecasting," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-31, November.
    15. Mohammed A. Bou-Rabee & Muhammad Yasin Naz & Imad ED. Albalaa & Shaharin Anwar Sulaiman, 2022. "BiLSTM Network-Based Approach for Solar Irradiance Forecasting in Continental Climate Zones," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-12, March.
    16. Ümmühan Başaran Filik & Tansu Filik & Ömer Nezih Gerek, 2018. "A Hysteresis Model for Fixed and Sun Tracking Solar PV Power Generation Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, March.
    17. Erdener, Burcin Cakir & Feng, Cong & Doubleday, Kate & Florita, Anthony & Hodge, Bri-Mathias, 2022. "A review of behind-the-meter solar forecasting," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    18. du Plessis, A.A. & Strauss, J.M. & Rix, A.J., 2021. "Short-term solar power forecasting: Investigating the ability of deep learning models to capture low-level utility-scale Photovoltaic system behaviour," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    19. Elena Collino & Dario Ronzio, 2021. "Exploitation of a New Short-Term Multimodel Photovoltaic Power Forecasting Method in the Very Short-Term Horizon to Derive a Multi-Time Scale Forecasting System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-30, February.
    20. Das, Utpal Kumar & Tey, Kok Soon & Seyedmahmoudian, Mehdi & Mekhilef, Saad & Idris, Moh Yamani Idna & Van Deventer, Willem & Horan, Bend & Stojcevski, Alex, 2018. "Forecasting of photovoltaic power generation and model optimization: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 912-928.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:9:p:1621-:d:226792. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.