Features affecting the load forecasting error on country level

Load forecasting is important for power systems planning, and, on the operational level, for the grid operators and the balance responsible parties. A decrease in the load forecasting error increases the security of supply, and leads to the decrease in the financial costs for both market participants and the power system as a whole. Different studies have investigated influence of load forecasting on the load forecasting error for individual countries. The aim of this paper is to analyze the load forecasting error on a dataset larger than any previously conducted study has worked with. On a dataset of 24 European countries, we aim to discover in what ways is the load forecasting error affected by the level of market development, the climate conditions, the average load, the Gross Domestic Product and the penetration of the renewable energy sources. Our study aims to produce results that will contribute to the development of the general load forecasting systems that are not dependent on the climate or the market.