Load forecasting tech to tide over power woes

Burdened with escalating power purchase costs, the two electricity distributing companies owned by BSES have imported a new technology that makes them predict Delhi’s appetite for power more accurately and, hopefully, save on both overbuying and last-minute scouting for power.

Burdened with escalating power purchase costs, the two electricity distributing companies owned by BSES have imported a new technology that makes them predict Delhi’s appetite for power more accurately and, hopefully, save on both overbuying and last-minute scouting for power. Imported from Sweden, the technology cost the discoms Rs 2.5 crore.

HT Image

It takes into account lifestyle pattern and income of consumers, population trends and the retail energy sales pattern — along with variations in weather — to draw up a more accurate picture of how much power Delhiites would need.

Known as SAS Smart Load Forecaster, it’s a level up from the prevalent practice of “intelligent guesswork” — that is the result of tracking historical load patterns coupled with the current weather forecast and past weather trends.
Copenhagen Energy and the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative are among the leading utilities currently using this new tech.

“More accurate load forecasts will help us plan power purchases or sales more prudently and with greater accuracy, leading to a reduction in power purchase costs,” said Gopal Saxena, CEO, BSES Rajdhani.

In manual load forecasting, the discoms divide the day into 96 slots, of 15 minutes each, and prepare estimates using historical data of consumption and weather.

The new tool uses statistical models to account for long-term trends and assess the effect of each parameter on demand at any given time. Hence forecasting with this level of around 1% accuracy — which was not possible manually — wherein, at best, a 3% error margin can be achieved.

Discoms say that in case of inaccurate load forecasting, utilities end up buying more power than necessary, then find it difficult to sell the extra power at a premium. The new system allows flexibility to quickly work in a cooler summer or colder winter and countless variations in between.