Research to Operations Needs in Renewable Energy Forecasting

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Sharply Focused have for several years been conducting an ongoing evaluation of R&D in the renewable energy and electric load forecasting space and have also surveyed the requirements and expectations of end-users that consume these forecasts. Our contribution will serve as a big picture summary of current research to operations (R2O) developments and requirements in the electric utility space.

Our presentation will outline the findings from a white paper planned for late 2017 on the status of forecasting within the electric utility and system operator space, with a two-pronged focus on a) the techniques we have most recently seen migrated from research to operations and b) communicating the areas that sector professionals see as most important for further research and/or as a priority for migrating existing research into operations.

Among other areas, attention will be paid to the integration of probabilistic forecasts into utility operations. To date, most generators, utilities, and system operators have struggled to make progress in this area. The presentation will provide some insight into why this is so and ways that this might be changed. How the industry evaluates forecasts will also be discussed, including some of the work that EPRI and Sharply Focused have done together on forecast evaluation.