Weather-Classification-MARS-Based Photovoltaic Power Forecasting for Energy Imbalance Market

Energy imbalance market (EIM) provides an opportunity that allows larger shares of variable renewable energy sources in the grid. Under highly volatile weather conditions, an accurate forecasting of photovoltaic (PV) power is necessary for grid stability and market operation. Most of existing forecasting methods strongly rely on the accuracy of measurements, and the adaptability of these methods to complex weather conditions is rarely discussed. In this paper, a weather classification multivariate adaptive regression spline (MARS) forecasting model is introduced for complex weather conditions in all seasons. It can be updated incrementally and its high computational efficiency satisfies EIM operations. A data set that consists of the historical power and meteorological parameters produced by a small-scale PV platform is classified and used to train MARS models with forecast horizons ranging from 15 min to 24 h in different seasons. The tests and analyses results indicate higher accuracy, adaptability, and efficiency of the novel model.