Effect of aggregation level and sampling time on load variation profile — A statistical analysis

Electrical load patterns that represent the consumption level are affected by different types of uncertainties associated with customer´s behavior and with keeping acceptable comfort level. The resulting aggregated load pattern indicates the system response that may be more or less flexible in different periods of time. Many research activities have been dedicated to explore the flexibility of load demand using load patterns and associated uncertainties but little work is found on investigating the effect of sampling time and aggregation level on the shape of the load patterns. Knowing the characteristics of the electrical load patterns is a key aspect to manage load and supply side flexibilities for most economic system operation. This paper addresses the effects of sampling interval as well as aggregation level on the characteristics of the aggregated load patterns. The study is carried out on the basis of comprehensive statistical computations on collected data using load variation profiles, because these profiles embed the information on the load variation trend. The findings of this study may be used for load forecasting and management, generation allocation and economic operation of smart grid system, especially for microgrids.