Short-Term Power Load Forecasting Method Based on Feature Selection and Co-Optimization of Hyperparameters

The current power load exhibits strong nonlinear and stochastic characteristics, increasing the difficulty of short-term prediction. To more accurately capture data features and enhance prediction accuracy and generalization ability, in this paper, we propose an efficient approach for short-term electric load forecasting that is grounded in a synergistic strategy of feature optimization and hyperparameter tuning. Firstly, a dynamic adjustment strategy based on the rate of the change of historical optimal values is introduced to enhance the PID-based Search Algorithm (PSA), enabling the real-time adjustment and optimization of the search process. Subsequently, the proposed Improved Population-based Search Algorithm (IPSA) is employed to achieve the optimal adaptive variational mode decomposition of the load sequence, thereby reducing data volatility. Next, for each load component, a Bi-directional Gated Recurrent Unit network with an attention mechanism (BiGRU-Attention) is established. By leveraging the interdependence between feature selection and hyperparameter optimization, we propose a synergistic optimization strategy based on the Improved Population-based Search Algorithm (IPSA). This approach ensures that the input features and hyperparameters for each component’s predictive model achieve an optimal combination, thereby enhancing prediction performance. Finally, the optimal parameter prediction model is used for multi-step rolling forecasting, with the final prediction values obtained through superposition and reconstruction. The case study results indicate that this method can achieve an adaptive optimization of hybrid prediction model parameters, providing superior prediction accuracy compared to the commonly used methods. Additionally, the method demonstrates robust adaptability to load forecasting across various day types and seasons. Consequently, this approach enhances the accuracy of short-term load forecasting, thereby supporting more efficient power scheduling and resource allocation.