Precise single step and multistep short-term photovoltaic parameters forecasting based on reduced deep convolutional stack autoencoder and minimum variance multikernel random vector functional network

Accurate prediction of photovoltaic (PV) power can significantly alleviate energy crises. However, the inherent randomness and intermittency of PV power pose challenges to the stability and safety of PV-penetrated grid systems. To address this, we have developed a novel hybrid model: a reduced deep convolutional stack autoencoder with a minimum variance multikernel random vector functional link network (RDCSAE-MVMRVFLN). This model enhances grid efficacy and safety. We extract the most informative band-limited intrinsic mode functions (BLIMFs) of highly nonlinear and nonstationary solar energy parameters using an entropy, kurtosis, and correlation coefficient-based information-oriented variational mode decomposition (IOVMD). These efficient BLIMFs are concatenated and input into the RDCSAE for rich, abstract, and discriminative representation computation. A less computationally complex MVMKRVFLN regression method, incorporating these refined representations, is proposed for superior prediction accuracy and reduced computational complexity. Our method shows exceptional performance in predicting solar temperature, irradiation, and power for multi-horizon forecasts with minimal error metrics (correlation coefficients of 0.999±0.001, 0.992±0.001, 0.986±0.02 and 0.978±0.02, and RMSE of 0.016±0.001, 0.024±0.001, 0.034±0.001 and 0.045±0.001 for the interval of 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour and 3 hours respectively) in both single-step and multi-step forecasting compared to conventional methods. The RDCSAE-MVMKRVFLN model is implemented on a high-speed Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA embedded processor to validate its simplicity, robustness, and practicability. Additionally, we examine the prediction performance using real-time data from a 1 MW solar farm in Odisha, India, demonstrating the model's effectiveness and superiority.