A CRITIC–TOPSIS Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach for Optimum Site Selection for Solar PV Farm

Imad Hassan (), Ibrahim Alhamrouni () and Nurul Hanis Azhan
Additional contact information
Imad Hassan: Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (RENERAL), Electrical Engineering Section, British Malaysian Institute, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Selangor 53100, Malaysia
Ibrahim Alhamrouni: Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (RENERAL), Electrical Engineering Section, British Malaysian Institute, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Selangor 53100, Malaysia
Nurul Hanis Azhan: Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (RENERAL), Electrical Engineering Section, British Malaysian Institute, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Selangor 53100, Malaysia

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 10, 1-26

Abstract: This research work proposes a new hybrid framework to assess suitable sites and technical potentials for large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) systems by integrating two multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques. The evaluation of sites for PV plants was performed using the MCDM method, taking into account a wide range of variables, including climate, technical, geographical, and economic variables, with factor weights determined using the CRITIC technique. Five Saudi Arabian cities with abundant solar radiation served as illustrations of this study’s framework. For classification, the TOPSIS method was employed to rank the five alternatives. The results show that Riyadh is ranked first with a performance score of 72%, followed by Jeddah with a performance score of 65%, and the remaining three cities, namely, Al Ahsa, Dammam, and Abha scored less than 50%. Lastly, the reliability and robustness of the results obtained were examined using sensitivity analysis. The findings of this study can be used to pinpoint possible places that could be used to build solar power plants and to promote the expansion of generating facilities and electrical grids.

Keywords: PV system; multi-criteria decision making; CRITIC; TOPSIS; sustainable cities (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: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/10/4245/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/10/4245/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:10:p:4245-:d:1152910

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().