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@INPROCEEDINGS{Weinand:1049184,
      author       = {Weinand, Jann and Kleinebrahm, Max},
      title        = {{A} {B}enchmark {A}rena for {R}eal-{T}ime {E}nergy
                      {F}orecasting},
      reportid     = {FZJ-2025-05267},
      year         = {2025},
      abstract     = {Forecasting electricity prices, load, and renewable
                      generation has become essential for power system operators,
                      energy traders, and analysts as renewable penetration and
                      market volatility rise across Europe, a trend reflected in
                      the sharp growth of related research, including more than
                      4,000 papers published in 2024 alone1. Despite a vast body
                      of literature and notable open-access efforts such as Lago
                      et al.2 (2021), the field lacks a widely accepted,
                      continuously updated real-time benchmark [JW1.1]that
                      captures the evolving conditions of modern power markets. As
                      a result, it remains difficult to reliably assess
                      state-of-the-art forecasting performance, hindering
                      consistent and measurable progress, both in research and in
                      commercial practice.Existing studies rely on static
                      historical benchmark datasets2–4, which are useful for
                      comparing relative model performance. However, in a rapidly
                      changing energy system, their results quickly become
                      outdated and offer limited insight into real-time
                      forecasting performance under current system conditions.
                      Furthermore, static benchmarks allow to rely on exogenous
                      regressors that were not available at the time the forecast
                      would have been issued, thereby overlooking key real-time
                      forecasting constraints . At the same time, commercial
                      forecasting solutions remain predominantly closed-source,
                      preventing transparent quality assessment and inhibiting
                      trust in their performance claims (see, e.g., Semmelmann7
                      (2025) or Stupperich8 (2025)).This paper introduces a
                      benchmark arena for real-time energy forecasting. The
                      platform provides the first open, API-driven environment
                      where researchers and practitioners can submit day-ahead
                      forecasts for electricity prices, load, and renewable
                      generation. [JW2.1]All submissions are evaluated once actual
                      values are published, ensuring assessment under true
                      real-time conditions. Standardized metrics are computed
                      automatically, and a public leaderboard ranks models based
                      on rolling-horizon performance (e.g., the best results over
                      the last 30, 90, or 365 days). This enables systematic
                      comparison of forecasting solutions, quantifying real
                      performance differences and providing an evidence-based view
                      of methodological progress. By continuously reflecting
                      contemporary market dynamics, the benchmark arena
                      establishes a transparent, reproducible, and dynamically
                      evolving reference for forecasting quality.},
      month         = {Aug},
      date          = {2026-08-18},
      organization  = {EEM26, Copenhagen (Denmark), 18 Aug
                       2026 - 21 Aug 2026},
      cin          = {ICE-2},
      cid          = {I:(DE-Juel1)ICE-2-20101013},
      pnm          = {1111 - Effective System Transformation Pathways (POF4-111)
                      / 1112 - Societally Feasible Transformation Pathways
                      (POF4-111)},
      pid          = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-1111 / G:(DE-HGF)POF4-1112},
      typ          = {PUB:(DE-HGF)1},
      url          = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1049184},
}