Deep Learning for Smart Grid Application: Addressing Data Scarcity Challenges and Enhancing Load Forecasting Efficiency

The surge in domestic electricity consumption necessitates innovative solutions for the integration of smart grids. Traditional automation methods prove insufficient for handling unforeseen challenges and sustainability issues, especially with the increasing adoption of renewable energy sources. This paper reviews the application of deep learning (DL) methods to smart grids. The research explores various DL approaches employed in smart grid data collection, such as generative adversarial networks, convolutional neural networks (CNNs), auto-encoders, restricted Boltzmann machines, and multilayer perceptron models. These techniques aim to refine features, detect electricity theft, and identify patterns related to false data injection attacks and energy consumption. Data scarcity emerges as a critical challenge impacting smart grid data management, affecting forecasting accuracy, operational insights, efficiency, and innovation. The study advocates for investments in advanced data collection technologies and taking advantage of machine learning techniques to optimize the use of available data. To demonstrate the impact of data scarcity on DL model efficiency, a Machine learning benchmark models are trained for energy consumption forecasting. Results reveal the significance of training models with sufficient data reaching a minimization of 3.1149 for validation mean squared error of one of the models (CNN_LSTM) by increasing the use of training data to 75% of the Individual household electric power consumption dataset, emphasizing the need to address data scarcity challenges for effective model training.