A Nonparametric Bayesian Model for Synthesising Residential Solar Generation and Demand
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Increasing installations of distributed electricity generation have vastly increased the need for stochastic generation and demand data. However, the effects of such installations is uncertain, as high quality data is not always available before an installation is completed. In particular, there is a need for stochastic models of demand and generation profiles for unobserved prosumers. The model formulated in this paper bridges the gap between the limited available empirical data, and the large amount of high-quality, stochastic demand and generation data required for network and system analysis. The approach employs clustering analysis and a Dirichlet-categorical hierarchical model of the features of unobserved prosumers. Based on the data of clusters of prosumers, Markov chain models of demand and generation profiles are constructed from empirical data, and synthetic demand profiles are subsequently sampled from these. The sampled traces are cross-validated and show a good statistical fit to the observed data, and then two case studies are considered. The first identifies distinct behavioural differences in demand for residential areas of differing population density. The second case study varies levels of solar generation penetration, and shows that it contributes to significant intra-day demand variance, but has little impact on evening peak demand.
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