To utilize neural networks in energy load forecasting, both external historical and forecasted data must be provided for all input variables, along with corresponding historical or forecast* values for the actual gas load recorded.
Note: * It is possible to override forecasted hourly values with externally provided forecast gas load data, so that the best gas load values for meters or meter groups with a known gas load schedule are used as the forecast. See Configuring File Import Settings and Configuring Value Adjustment for more information.
The mechanism for importing external input data is via XML files, which must adhere to an XML schema that specifies the required and optional input data attributes. See Understanding the CygNet ELF Import Schema for more information about preparing data input files.
Input files can be validated against the schema, although schema validation may be skipped if the input format of the source data is trusted to be accurate. Any input files that fail to validate against the import schema will fail to be loaded into the system.
Each file import process records the status of the operation in a DDS transaction. The transaction indicates the completion status of the import, and also contains details about the file imported, timing statistics, data validation failures, or data filling actions taken. See Transaction Log for more information.
Once the external data is imported, it is stored in the CygNet system. Meter IDs, Meter Group IDs, Input Owner IDs, and Input Owner Group IDs are represented as facilities in the configured FAC service. If any of these entities are specified in an import file, the ELF EIE driver will assume that the required facilities have already been created and configured. If they do not exist, import errors are generated and the particular import for the missing meter or group will fail. Facility attributes are used to store association relationships such as Meters and Meter Groups, Record Owners and Record Groups, etc. If these relationships are defined for an import file, the ELF EIE driver will update the appropriate facility attributes of the proper facilities if they exist.
Note: In the ELF system the terms “Input Owner” and “Record Owner” refer to an entity or facility that “owns” a set of input data for a given period. For example, several hours of weather input data may belong to (be owned by) the same regional weather station. The input record owner entities are specified in the import file or entered manually, and are represented as facilities in the configured CygNet FAC service. Facility type attributes are used to store associated parent and child relationships between Record Owners and Record Owner Groups. The terms “Input Owner” and “Record Owner” are used interchangeably throughout the ELF system and in this documentation.
To capture data items for Historical Gas Load Data, Forecast Gas Load Data, Historical Input Data, and Forecast Input Data, data is stored in points in the configured PNT service for the appropriate facilities, using UDCs that have been previously configured in the EIE. The driver assumes that the required points have already been created and configured. If they do not exist, import errors will be generated and the particular import for the meter or group will fail.
The historical archive data for these points is stored in the configured VHS. Since this data is historical in nature, the import will bypass the CVS and write data directly to points in the VHS. However, the ELF EIE driver will update the point in the CVS with the most recent historical value of the import for historical data and with the value of the last hour for input forecasts. For forecasts, this value may not make a lot of sense by itself, because it does not have the context of the entire forecast, but it will provide a value for the CVS so that it does not remain empty. It will represent the value for the last hour of the last forecast.
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