Deep learning approaches for bias correction in WRF model outputs for enhanced solar and wind energy estimation: A case study in East and West Malaysia

Accurate estimation of wind and solar energy potentials is crucial for successfully integrating renewable energy into power grids. Traditional numerical weather prediction models, such as the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, often suffer from biases that lead to inaccurate energy forecasts. This study employs advanced deep learning (DL) techniques to correct these biases in WRF model outputs, specifically to enhance wind and solar energy estimations in East and West Malaysia. Unlike previous studies, this research integrates a diverse array of DL models: Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), and Feedforward Neural Networks (FNN), to address both temporal and spatial prediction challenges. The models were trained and tested using historical weather data and ground-based measurements to improve the accuracy of wind speed and solar radiation predictions. Evaluation metrics, root mean square error (RMSE), mean bias error (MBE), and mean absolute error (MAE), demonstrate the better performance of CNN and FNN models over the sole WRF approach. The findings reveal that CNN achieved the lowest RMSE in wind speed estimation (0.91 in CEMACS and 0.97 in Kuching compared to WRF RMSEs of 1.92 and 1.39). At the same time, FNN significantly improved solar radiation prediction (RMSE of 86.86 in Kuching and 99.23 in CEMACS compared to WRF RMSEs of 154.44 and 370.66). Given the low wind speeds, the corrected data from CNN was used to estimate wind energy at 536 kWh at Kuching and 0 kWh at CEMACS. FNN-corrected data was also used to estimate solar energy at 19 kWh and 18 kWh at Kuching and CEMACS, respectively. This research not only shows the effectiveness of DL in mitigating biases in numerical weather prediction models but also contributes a novel methodology for reliable renewable energy assessments.