Incorporating Load Fluctuation in Feature Importance Profile Clustering for Day-Ahead Aggregated Residential Load Forecasting

Residents clustering in different periods of load fluctuation and aggregated forecasting can increase the load prediction accuracy. But the strength of load fluctuation reflects the difference in the electricity consumption behavior of residents and affects the cluster results of residents. This paper presents a new day-ahead aggregated load-forecasting method for distribution networks based on the load fluctuation and feature importance (FI) profile clustering of residents. First, the input features are determined, the FI profile of residents is determined, and residents are clustered according to the FI profile. Then, the crow search algorithm is used to optimize the initial cluster centers for preventing the clustering results from falling into a local optimum. And the cluster verification index S_Dbw, the sum of the average scattering for the clusters and the inter-cluster density, is used to evaluate the cluster quality. The optimal clustering results of the aggregated load for different fluctuation periods are determined via statistical experiments. Finally, a random forest predictor based on ensemble learning is selected. According to the optimal clustering results in different fluctuation periods, a rolling forecasting model is constructed to realize day-ahead aggregated load forecasting in a residential distribution network.