Prediction of Power Generation of a Photovoltaic Power Plant Based on Neural Networks

Photovoltaic energy production is an important factor for increasing the electricity supply. The ability to predict the electric power production (EPP) of a photovoltaic (PV) farm supports from the management process of the power grid to the trade in the energy market and much more. Also, by predict...

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Main Authors: Raluca Nelega, Dan Ioan Greu, Eusebiu Jecan, Vasile Rednic, Ciprian Zamfirescu, Emanuel Puschita, Romulus Valeriu Flaviu Turcu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2023-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10054046/
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author Raluca Nelega
Dan Ioan Greu
Eusebiu Jecan
Vasile Rednic
Ciprian Zamfirescu
Emanuel Puschita
Romulus Valeriu Flaviu Turcu
author_facet Raluca Nelega
Dan Ioan Greu
Eusebiu Jecan
Vasile Rednic
Ciprian Zamfirescu
Emanuel Puschita
Romulus Valeriu Flaviu Turcu
author_sort Raluca Nelega
collection DOAJ
description Photovoltaic energy production is an important factor for increasing the electricity supply. The ability to predict the electric power production (EPP) of a photovoltaic (PV) farm supports from the management process of the power grid to the trade in the energy market and much more. Also, by predicting the production of PV power (PVP), it is possible to monitor the lifetime of the solar cells that form the backbone of any solar PV system. As a critical result, sudden failures of the PV plant can be avoided. Using a long short-term memory recurrent neural network (LSTM-RNN) model, this work evaluates the prediction accuracy of two forecasting strategies: the recursive strategy and the non-recursive Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output, respectively. The dataset consists of 5-years in-filed production data measurements collected from the CETATEA photovoltaic power plant, a research site facility for renewable energies located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The high granularity of the electric power production dataset values recorded each 1 hour guarantees the overall prediction accuracy of the system. The impact of the dataset size, the number of previous observations, and the forecast horizon on the neural network prediction accuracy is evaluated for each strategy. The performance metrics used to evaluate the prediction accuracy are the root mean square error, the mean bias error, and the mean average error. The results analysis demonstrates the ability of the implemented machine learning models to predict electric power production, as well as their importance in the energy loss management process.
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spelling doaj.art-63ace21469124e6ca513619b1c4e6ba62023-03-07T00:01:01ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362023-01-0111207132072410.1109/ACCESS.2023.324948410054046Prediction of Power Generation of a Photovoltaic Power Plant Based on Neural NetworksRaluca Nelega0Dan Ioan Greu1Eusebiu Jecan2Vasile Rednic3Ciprian Zamfirescu4Emanuel Puschita5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5635-3011Romulus Valeriu Flaviu Turcu6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0857-9868Communications Department, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaCommunications Department, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaCommunications Department, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaNational Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaDepartment of Telecommunications, Politehnica University of Bucharest, Bucharest, RomaniaCommunications Department, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaNational Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaPhotovoltaic energy production is an important factor for increasing the electricity supply. The ability to predict the electric power production (EPP) of a photovoltaic (PV) farm supports from the management process of the power grid to the trade in the energy market and much more. Also, by predicting the production of PV power (PVP), it is possible to monitor the lifetime of the solar cells that form the backbone of any solar PV system. As a critical result, sudden failures of the PV plant can be avoided. Using a long short-term memory recurrent neural network (LSTM-RNN) model, this work evaluates the prediction accuracy of two forecasting strategies: the recursive strategy and the non-recursive Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output, respectively. The dataset consists of 5-years in-filed production data measurements collected from the CETATEA photovoltaic power plant, a research site facility for renewable energies located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The high granularity of the electric power production dataset values recorded each 1 hour guarantees the overall prediction accuracy of the system. The impact of the dataset size, the number of previous observations, and the forecast horizon on the neural network prediction accuracy is evaluated for each strategy. The performance metrics used to evaluate the prediction accuracy are the root mean square error, the mean bias error, and the mean average error. The results analysis demonstrates the ability of the implemented machine learning models to predict electric power production, as well as their importance in the energy loss management process.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10054046/Power generation predictionprediction accuracyforecasting horizonPV farmsolar energy
spellingShingle Raluca Nelega
Dan Ioan Greu
Eusebiu Jecan
Vasile Rednic
Ciprian Zamfirescu
Emanuel Puschita
Romulus Valeriu Flaviu Turcu
Prediction of Power Generation of a Photovoltaic Power Plant Based on Neural Networks
IEEE Access
Power generation prediction
prediction accuracy
forecasting horizon
PV farm
solar energy
title Prediction of Power Generation of a Photovoltaic Power Plant Based on Neural Networks
title_full Prediction of Power Generation of a Photovoltaic Power Plant Based on Neural Networks
title_fullStr Prediction of Power Generation of a Photovoltaic Power Plant Based on Neural Networks
title_full_unstemmed Prediction of Power Generation of a Photovoltaic Power Plant Based on Neural Networks
title_short Prediction of Power Generation of a Photovoltaic Power Plant Based on Neural Networks
title_sort prediction of power generation of a photovoltaic power plant based on neural networks
topic Power generation prediction
prediction accuracy
forecasting horizon
PV farm
solar energy
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10054046/
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