Power utility companies carry out energy supply schedules of their generation, transmission, and distribution facilities to minimize the operational cost, while meeting the grid’s power demand. Failure to appropriately match energy supply and demand can have adverse consequences, such as load shedding and damage to generators and transmission facilities. In order to prevent such negative consequences, a traditional power grid operator needs to forecast demand as accurately as possible.
Taking this one step further, we attempted to match renewable energy supply with energy demand. Most utility companies have a portfolio of energy sources (nuclear, gas, coal, wind, solar, etc.), that each supply the grid with energy. The quantity at which each source supplies energy is a function of a variety of factors. Ideally, these utility companies would use their renewable sources first (solar, wind) before needing to rely on fossil fuels to make up the remaining energy supply-demand gap. In order to ensure utility companies are extracting the maximum utility from renewable energy sources, we forecasted the supply that renewable energy sources can provide N hours into the future and compared this to overall demand. Any gap present would then be made up with remaining energy sources. Allowing operators to use renewable energy sources optimally will ensure fewer carbon emissions and/or lower operational costs.