Predictive densities for day-ahead electricity prices using time-adaptive quantile regression

A large part of the decision-making problems actors of the power system are facing on a daily basis requires scenarios for day-ahead electricity market prices. These scenarios are most likely to be generated based on marginal predictive densities for such prices, then enhanced with a temporal dependence structure. A semi-parametric methodology for generating such densities is presented: it includes: (i) a time-adaptive quantile regression model for the 5%–95% quantiles; and (ii) a description of the distribution tails with exponential distributions. The forecasting skill of the proposed model is compared to that of four benchmark approaches and the well-known the generalist autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model over a three-year evaluation period. While all benchmarks are outperformed in terms of forecasting skill overall, the superiority of the semi-parametric model over the GARCH model lies in the former’s ability to generate reliable quantile estimates.