Hybrid Multi-Criteria Method of Analyzing the Location of Distributed Renewable Energy Sources

Alicja Stoltmann
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Alicja Stoltmann: Department of Electrical Power Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and Control Engineering, Gdańsk University of Technology, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-22

Abstract: This paper presents the development and the application of a hybrid multi-criteria method, the combination of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and numerical taxonomy (NT), to support the decision making on the location of distributed renewable energy sources meeting various types of assessment criteria. Finding criteria weights, using the AHP method, eliminates the disadvantage of NT—which, in current form, is defined by its extreme values. The NT method is less mathematically complicated than the AHP method, and thus, less time-consuming. The combination of methods was used to investigate: (1) Which location among these analyzed has the best chance of implementation considering the author’s set of criteria to describe the proposed locations in detail; and (2) which detailed criterion has the greatest impact on achieving the main goal. The proposed universal set of criteria consists of five main criteria (technical, economic, social, environmental, and legal), under which twenty-eight detailed criteria are listed. The hybrid multi-criteria methodology was used to rank the proposed set of four wind farm locations in terms of chances for investment implementation in the shortest possible time. The ranking of the location obtained with this method should be treated as an element supporting the decision-maker. The location for wind power plant with installed capacity 40 MW was found to be the most suitable, and the results showed that the main contributing factors are carbon avoidance rate and the impact of the investment on environmentally protected areas.

Keywords: multi-criteria method; Analytic Hierarchy Process; numerical taxonomy; distributed generation; renewable energy sources (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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