Short-Term Load Forecasting for Regional Smart Energy Systems Based on Two-Stage Feature Extraction and Hybrid Inverted Transformer

Accurate short-term load forecasting is critical for enhancing the reliability and stability of regional smart energy systems. However, the inherent challenges posed by the substantial fluctuations and volatility in electricity load patterns necessitate the development of advanced forecasting techniques. In this study, a novel short-term load forecasting approach based on a two-stage feature extraction process and a hybrid inverted Transformer model is proposed. Initially, the Prophet method is employed to extract essential features such as trends, seasonality and holiday patterns from the original load dataset. Subsequently, variational mode decomposition (VMD) optimized by the IVY algorithm is utilized to extract significant periodic features from the residual component obtained by Prophet. The extracted features from both stages are then integrated to construct a comprehensive data matrix. This matrix is then inputted into a hybrid deep learning model that combines an inverted Transformer (iTransformer), temporal convolutional networks (TCNs) and a multilayer perceptron (MLP) for accurate short-term load forecasting. A thorough evaluation of the proposed method is conducted through four sets of comparative experiments using data collected from the Elia grid in Belgium. Experimental results illustrate the superior performance of the proposed approach, demonstrating high forecasting accuracy and robustness, highlighting its potential in ensuring the stable operation of regional smart energy systems.