Load forecasting in the short-term scheduling of DERs

Abstract To cope with the grand challenges of energy shortage and climate crisis, modern power systems have been experiencing a significant transition from bulk energy systems to smart grids, which are featured by distributed deployment of energy resources, advanced Information and Communications Technologies, and demand response. These new trends pose new challenges to perform load forecasting – a fundamental task to support the operation of power grids, and also calls for developing new energy management solutions for distributed energy resources (DERs). This Chapter introduces new load forecasting techniques developed in the smart-grid environment, where load forecasting from the perspective of individual energy customers is firstly introduced, then household load forecasting techniques are presented, and the core problem of consumption behavior modeling in household load forecasting is also elaborated; based on this, this Chapter reviews the state-of-the-art of two representative application domains of load forecasting in smart grids: trans-active energy systems and DER energy management. The discussions in this Chapter are expected to provide references to engineers and researchers in electrical engineering and energy systems.