A hybrid ensemble optimized BiGRU method for short-term photovoltaic generation forecasting

In the context of prominent energy crisis, photovoltaic power (PV) generation has received increasing attention, then accurate PV generation forecasting is crucial for ensuring the smooth operation of power stations. However, existing research is insufficient in comprehensively analyzing the impact of PV generation volatility. To fill the gaps and enhance the prediction accuracy, this paper proposes a new hybrid forecasting method. We first introduce the Locally Weighted Scatterplot Smoothing (LOWESS) method to process the data and enhance the data stability, and use Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) and Random Forests (RF) for feature selection to improve the quality of input data. Then we use Attention mechanism and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) layer to optimize Bi-directional Gate Recurrent Unit (BiGRU) model and form a new hybrid model. Finally, based on the Bagging algorithm, we use ensemble learning to further optimize the hybrid BiGRU model to enhance the depth and performance. The proposed method is validated through case analysis results from two different locations, Xuhui District in Shanghai, China and the DKASC area in Alice Springs, Australia. The results demonstrate that, compared with other models, the developed method exhibits exceptional prediction performance and effectively enhances the accuracy of PV generation forecasting. Keywords: photovoltaic power generation; Locally Weighted Scatterplot Smoothing; feature selection; ensemble learning; Bi-directional Gate Recurrent Unit.