Solar Energy Implementation in Manufacturing Industry Using Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Fuzzy TOPSIS and S4 Framework

Pedro Ponce (), Citlaly Pérez, Aminah Robinson Fayek and Arturo Molina ()
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Pedro Ponce: Institute of Advanced Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, NL, Mexico
Citlaly Pérez: Institute of Advanced Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, NL, Mexico
Aminah Robinson Fayek: Hole School of Construction Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, 7-203 Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering, 9211 116 St NW, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada
Arturo Molina: Institute of Advanced Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, NL, Mexico

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 23, 1-19

Abstract: The demand for electrical energy has increased since the population of and automation in factories have grown. The manufacturing industry has been growing dramatically due to the fast-changing market, so electrical energy for manufacturing processes has increased. As a result, solar energy has been installed to supply electrical energy. Thus, assessing a solar panel company could be a complex task for manufacturing companies that need to assess, install, and operate solar panels when several criteria with different hierarchies from decision-makers are involved. In addition, the stages of a solar panel system could be divided into analysis, installation, operation, and disposal, and all of them must be considered. Thus, the solar panel company must provide a holistic solution for each stage of the solar panel lifespan. This paper provides a fuzzy decision-making approach (Fuzzy TOPSIS) to deal with the assessment of solar companies using the S4 framework in which the sensing, smart, sustainable, and social features are labeled with linguistic values that allow the evaluation of companies using fuzzy values and linguistic labels, instead of using crisp values that are difficult to define when decision-makers are evaluating a solar company for installation of the solar panels. The S4 features are considered the benefits of the evaluation. In the case study presented, three solar panel companies with different alternatives are evaluated on the basis of three decision-makers from manufacturing companies using the S4 framework. This paper considers the benefits of solar companies in the context of decision-makers participating in a multi-decision selection of such a company to install solar panels, so that the selection process is more effective. Thus, the proposed Fuzzy TOPSIS method proved efficient when selecting a solar panel company from among many options that best meets the needs of manufacturing companies.

Keywords: multi-criteria decision-making; fuzzy decision-making; Fuzzy TOPSIS; solar energy; solar panel; S4 framework (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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