Forecasting Electricity Power Generation of Pawan Danavi Wind Farm, Sri Lanka, Using Gene Expression Programming

This paper presents the development of a wind power forecasting model based on gene expression programming (GEP) for one of the major wind farms in Sri Lanka, Pawan Danavi. With the ever-increasing demand for renewable power generation, Sri Lanka has started harnessing electricity from wind power. Though the initial establishment cost of wind farms is high, the analyses clearly showcased the economic sustainability of wind power generation in long term. In this context, forecasting the wind power generation at Sri Lankan wind farms is important in many ways. However, limited research has been carried out in Sri Lanka to predict the wind power generation against the changing climate. Therefore, to overcome this research gap, a model was developed to forecast wind power generation against two climatic factors, viz. on-site wind speed and ambient temperature. The results showcased the robustness and accuracy of the proposed GEP-based forecasting model (with R2 = 0.92, index of agreement = 0.98, and RMSE = 259 kW). Moreover, the results of the study were compared against three different forecasting models and found comparable in terms of the model accuracy. The GEP-based model is advantageous over machine learning techniques due to its capability in deriving a mathematical expression. As an acceptable relationship was found between wind power generation and climatic factors, the proposed model facilitates the future projection of wind power generations with forecasted climatic factors. Though the application of GEP in the field of wind power generation is reported in a few research publications, this is the first research in which GEP is employed to model the power generation with respect to weather indices. The proposed prediction model is advantageous than machine learning models as the relationship between the wind power and the weather indices can be expressed.