SAS, provides an energy forecasting cloud to help utilities securely serve their customers safely by improving planning and operations. Utilities can make better predictions about consumer and business demand by building accurate models with both SAS energy forecasting solutions. These models analyse vast amounts of operational, weather and usage data from numerous sources, including smart meters and other IoT (internet of things) connected devices. They also consider regulatory requirements and factors such as increased demand for electric vehicle recharging.
From heat domes and atmospheric rivers to wildfires and rare tropical storms, Southern California has witnessed many effects of climate change. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) requires a better way to assess the impact of extreme weather on customer demand in the United States. With over 8,000 megawatts of net dependable capacity, 1.55 million electric customers and 681,000 water customers, LADWP is the country’s large municipal utility.
LADWP turned to SAS energy forecasting to help its managers, planners and engineers assess the impact of climate change and future weather scenarios. The SAS solution replaces outdated legacy applications with AI (artificial intelligence) and analytics powered models that predict peak demand and provide more accurate forecasts.
“Transforming volumes of data into more accurate predictions with SAS energy forecasting means better decisions for LADWP and more dependable and reliable service for our millions of customers. SAS AI and advanced analytics are helping us in both short- and long-term demand and transmission planning. Just as our city and region need to be agile in the face of extreme weather, LADWP also must quickly adapt to changing customer needs and demands. SAS Energy Forecasting is a key part of our response.” says Bingbing Zhang, data analyst at LADWP.
Utilities like LADWP can still get quality load and renewable generation forecasts which they expect from SAS energy forecasting. Through cloud delivery, they can scale the use of software up or down depending on business needs while reducing in-house computing requirements. Utility forecasters try to determine how customers will use energy and then plan operations around those possible uses. SAS energy forecasting and SAS energy forecasting cloud help them automatically track model accuracy and update models when conditions change over very short and long periods.
The changing grid requires a platform capable of handling data sets and providing information down to the circuit level, including renewable generation. With SAS energy forecasting solutions, utility planners and managers can bring together a collective amount of data and apply AI and advanced analytics, delivering repeatable, traceable, scalable and defensible forecasts.
“With renewables and other new energy sources added to their grids, utilities and smart cities need to make informed predictions about demand, whether it be for the next few hours or the next 20 years. The new SAS energy forecasting cloud empowers transparent, trusted and repeatable forecasts to help organisations plan and scale with confidence while adhering to regulatory oversight. Better predictions lead to better decisions that improve the customer and citizen experience while enhancing efficiency.” says Jason Mann, SAS vice president of internet of things (IoT).
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