Short-term power load forecasting using grey correlation contest modeling

Power load has the characteristic of nonlinear fluctuation and random growth. Aiming at the drawback that the forecasting accuracy of general GM(1,1) model goes down when there is a greater load mutation, this paper proposes a new grey model with grey correlation contest for short-term power load forecasting. In order to cover the impact of various certain and uncertain factors in climate and society on the model as fully as possible, original series are selected from different viewpoints to construct different forecasting strategies. By making full use of the characteristic that GM(1,1) model can give a perfect forecasting result in the smooth rise and drop phase of power load, and the feature that there are several peaks and valleys within daily power load, the predicted day is divided into several smooth segments for separate forecasting. Finally, the different forecasting strategies are implemented respectively in the different segments through grey correlation contest, so as to avoid the error amplification resulted from the improper choice of initial condition. A practical application verifies that, compared with the existing grey forecasting models, the proposed model is a stable and feasible forecasting model with a higher forecasting accuracy. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.