Real-Time Compensation of Photovoltaic Power Forecast Errors Using a DC-Link-Integrated Supercapacitor Energy Storage System

Photovoltaic (PV) power generation is inherently intermittent due to unpredictable irradiance variations, posing significant challenges for grid integration. While conventional power smoothing strategies mitigate short-term fluctuations, they do not explicitly enforce the tracking of a scheduled power trajectory. This paper proposes a dispatchable PV framework that integrates a hybrid convolutional neural network-long short-term memory (CNN-LSTM) model for precise day-ahead power forecasting with a real-time supercapacitor (SC) compensation strategy. The CNN-LSTM network captures complex spatiotemporal meteorological dependencies to generate a robust day-ahead reference trajectory. Concurrently, a supercapacitor energy storage system (SC-ESS) integrated at the DC-link level via a bidirectional buck–boost converter actively balances the instantaneous mismatch between this forecast trajectory and the actual PV generation. Unlike filter-based hybrid methods, the SC-ESS is employed as a direct forecast error actuator in a closed-loop control scheme. This strategy strictly enforces real-time forecast tracking while preserving maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and DC-link voltage stability. Simulations and laboratory experiments under rapidly varying irradiance confirm that the proposed method significantly reduces power deviations from the forecast reference and improves short-term power predictability without imposing excessive stress on the SC. This forecast-aware strategy effectively enhances the dispatchability of PV systems, providing a practical solution for grid-supportive operation.