Smart grid and the prospects of electricity demand forecast in Brazilian distribution system

The power system is changing. Classic methodologies applied for planning the distribution system should be adapted in an environment of Smart Grids. In this sense, an accurate forecast of energy demand will be essential to the utilities in this new grid model, being prepared for insertion of electric vehicles (EV), distributed generation (DG) and strategies on the demand side management (DSM). Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate and discuss the main challenges that energy companies in the Brazilian electric sector will face in the coming years. The impact of new variables in load forecast are presented as well as forecasting methodologies that have been studied and applied, aiming to identify establish guidelines to the utilities in their future studies of load forecast and system planning.