A comparative study of deep learning approaches for real-time solar irradiance forecasting

Accurate forecasting of Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) is critical for enhancing both grid stability and the efficiency of solar energy systems. A comparative assessment of several deep learning models is presented in this study for real-time GHI forecasting, specifically Long Short-Term Memory...

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Main Authors: Fennane Sara, Kacimi Houda, Mabchour Hamza, ALtalqi Fatehi, El Massaoudi El Mahdi, Echchelh Adil
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences 2025-01-01
Series:EPJ Web of Conferences
Online Access:https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2025/11/epjconf_cofmer2025_05002.pdf
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author Fennane Sara
Kacimi Houda
Mabchour Hamza
ALtalqi Fatehi
El Massaoudi El Mahdi
Echchelh Adil
author_facet Fennane Sara
Kacimi Houda
Mabchour Hamza
ALtalqi Fatehi
El Massaoudi El Mahdi
Echchelh Adil
author_sort Fennane Sara
collection DOAJ
description Accurate forecasting of Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) is critical for enhancing both grid stability and the efficiency of solar energy systems. A comparative assessment of several deep learning models is presented in this study for real-time GHI forecasting, specifically Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Gated Recurrent Units (GRU), and a hybrid LSTM-GRU architecture. Approach performance is evaluated using standard metrics, including MAE, RMSE, and the R². Findings indicate that while GRUs are computationally efficient, they struggle to maintain long-term temporal dependencies. In contrast, LSTMs effectively capture these dependencies, resulting in improved forecasting accuracy. Notably, the hybrid LSTM-GRU model outperforms the individual architectures, achieving the lowest MAE (12.931), RMSE (21.825), and the highest R² (0.996), thereby demonstrating superior predictive performance. These results highlight the potential of the hybrid model in real-time solar energy applications, improving forecast reliability and grid stability. This study advances solar irradiance forecasting methodologies, thereby facilitating the integration of renewable energy sources and improving the effectiveness and reliability of grid operations.
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issn 2100-014X
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publishDate 2025-01-01
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series EPJ Web of Conferences
spelling doaj-art-c240ade0040541579fe5294cc2a00b4e2025-08-20T03:53:51ZengEDP SciencesEPJ Web of Conferences2100-014X2025-01-013260500210.1051/epjconf/202532605002epjconf_cofmer2025_05002A comparative study of deep learning approaches for real-time solar irradiance forecastingFennane Sara0Kacimi Houda1Mabchour Hamza2ALtalqi Fatehi3El Massaoudi El Mahdi4Echchelh Adil5Faculty of sciences, Ibn Tofail UniversityFaculty of sciences, Ibn Tofail UniversityFaculty of sciences, Ibn Tofail UniversityFaculty of sciences, Ibn Tofail UniversityFaculty of sciences, Ibn Tofail UniversityFaculty of sciences, Ibn Tofail UniversityAccurate forecasting of Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) is critical for enhancing both grid stability and the efficiency of solar energy systems. A comparative assessment of several deep learning models is presented in this study for real-time GHI forecasting, specifically Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Gated Recurrent Units (GRU), and a hybrid LSTM-GRU architecture. Approach performance is evaluated using standard metrics, including MAE, RMSE, and the R². Findings indicate that while GRUs are computationally efficient, they struggle to maintain long-term temporal dependencies. In contrast, LSTMs effectively capture these dependencies, resulting in improved forecasting accuracy. Notably, the hybrid LSTM-GRU model outperforms the individual architectures, achieving the lowest MAE (12.931), RMSE (21.825), and the highest R² (0.996), thereby demonstrating superior predictive performance. These results highlight the potential of the hybrid model in real-time solar energy applications, improving forecast reliability and grid stability. This study advances solar irradiance forecasting methodologies, thereby facilitating the integration of renewable energy sources and improving the effectiveness and reliability of grid operations.https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2025/11/epjconf_cofmer2025_05002.pdf
spellingShingle Fennane Sara
Kacimi Houda
Mabchour Hamza
ALtalqi Fatehi
El Massaoudi El Mahdi
Echchelh Adil
A comparative study of deep learning approaches for real-time solar irradiance forecasting
EPJ Web of Conferences
title A comparative study of deep learning approaches for real-time solar irradiance forecasting
title_full A comparative study of deep learning approaches for real-time solar irradiance forecasting
title_fullStr A comparative study of deep learning approaches for real-time solar irradiance forecasting
title_full_unstemmed A comparative study of deep learning approaches for real-time solar irradiance forecasting
title_short A comparative study of deep learning approaches for real-time solar irradiance forecasting
title_sort comparative study of deep learning approaches for real time solar irradiance forecasting
url https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2025/11/epjconf_cofmer2025_05002.pdf
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