ABSTRACT
This is the second chapter on computerized application of simulation for spatial electric load forecasting. Chapter 12 presented an overview of the common characteristics and overall approach used in most simulation. This chapter will delve into the details of several analytical methods that are used in most growth simulation. This chapter will present the three most often used analytical tools in the spatial consumer module of a spatial electric load forecast simulation program. These are the matrix implementation of land-use cause and effect, the polycentric activity center or “multi-urban pole” gravity model of aggregation in an urban area, and pattern recognition using class-based template matching. The structure and flow of computation for several types of simulation programs that use these building blocks will be explored in Chapter 14.
