Assessing the sustainability of renewable energy technologies using multi-criteria analysis: Suitability of approach for national-scale assessments and associated uncertainties

Troldborg, Mads; Heslop, Simon; Hough, Rupert

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.160

Cited by 249 publications

(134 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…It could be evaluated in a broad sense qualitatively with an ordinal scale or quantitatively through the technology capacity factor which is the ratio of the actual power output to the theoretical maximum power output from the technology over a period of time and/or the availability factor which is the fraction of time that the technology is able to generate energy over a certain period, divided by the total amount of the time in that period [4]. In practice, these two factors are easily estimated and reflect any kind of interruptions of the system that could arise by evaluating the historical data.…”

Section: Reliability Of Energy Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Assessment of Electricity Generation Technologies in Egypt Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

et al. 2018

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Abstract:Future electricity planning necessitates a thorough multi-faceted analysis of the available technologies in order to secure the energy supply for coming generations. To cope with worldwide concerns over sustainable development and meet the growing demands of electricity we assess the future potential technologies in Egypt through covering their technical, economic, environmental and social aspects. In this study we fill the gap of a lacking sustainability assessment of energy systems in Egypt where most of the studies focus mainly on the economic and technical aspects of planning future installation of power plants in Egypt. Furthermore, we include the stakeholder preferences of the indicators in the energy sector into our assessment. Moreover, we perform a sensitivity analysis through single dimension assessment scenarios of the technologies as well as a sustainable scenario with equal preferences of all dimensions of the sustainability. We employ two multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methodologies: the analytical hierarchy process for weighing the assessment criteria, and the weighted sum method for generating a general integrated sustainability index for each technology. The study investigates seven technologies: coal, natural gas, wind, concentrated solar power, photovoltaics, biomass and nuclear. The results reveal a perfect matching between the ranking of the technologies by the stakeholders and the sustainable scenario showing the highest ranking for natural gas and the lowest for nuclear and coal. There is a strong potential for renewable energy technologies to invade the electricity market in Egypt where they achieve the second ranking after natural gas. The Monte-Carlo approach gives photovoltaics a higher ranking over concentrated solar power as compared to the sample data ranking. The study concludes the importance of a multi-dimensional evaluation of the technologies while considering the preferences of the stakeholders in order to achieve a reliable and sustainable future energy supply.

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Section: Reliability Of Energy Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Assessment of Electricity Generation Technologies in Egypt Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

et al. 2018

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“…Thus, many improvements will be needed to adapt selected methods in the future. In the presented case study, the same weights have been used for multicriteria analysis for a basic insight, (Yue, et al, 2006;Troldborg et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multicriteria analysis for sources of renewable energy using data from remote sensing

Matějı́ček

2015

Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.

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ABSTRACT:Renewable energy sources are major components of the strategy to reduce harmful emissions and to replace depleting fossil energy resources. Data from remote sensing can provide information for multicriteria analysis for sources of renewable energy. Advanced land cover quantification makes it possible to search for suitable sites. Multicriteria analysis, together with other data, is used to determine the energy potential and socially acceptability of suggested locations. The described case study is focused on an area of surface coal mines in the northwestern region of the Czech Republic, where the impacts of surface mining and reclamation constitute a dominant force in land cover changes. High resolution satellite images represent the main input datasets for identification of suitable sites. Solar mapping, wind predictions, the location of weirs in watersheds, road maps and demographic information complement the data from remote sensing for multicriteria analysis, which is implemented in a geographic information system (GIS). The input spatial datasets for multicriteria analysis in GIS are reclassified to a common scale and processed with raster algebra tools to identify suitable sites for sources of renewable energy. The selection of suitable sites is limited by the CORINE land cover database to mining and agricultural areas. The case study is focused on long term land cover changes in the 1985-2015 period. Multicriteria analysis based on CORINE data shows moderate changes in mapping of suitable sites for utilization of selected sources of renewable energy in 1990, 2000, 2006 and 2012. The results represent map layers showing the energy potential on a scale of a few preference classes (1-7), where the first class is linked to minimum preference and the last class to maximum preference. The attached histograms show the moderate variability of preference classes due to land cover changes caused by mining activities. The results also show a slight increase in the more preferred classes for utilization of sources of renewable energy due to an increase area of reclaimed sites. Using data from remote sensing, such as the multispectral images and the CORINE land cover datasets, can reduce the financial resources currently required for finding and assessing suitable areas.* Corresponding author. This is useful to know for communication with the appropriate person in cases with more than one author.

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“…Among these, the Multi-Criteria Decision Making methods (MCDM) is one of the most interesting and used. In [16], [17] the Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE) model is used to choose the most suitable energy policy among many possibilities which include the employment of small and large size PV installations. In order to choose the most sustainable electricity production technology, the multi-criteria Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solutions (TOPSIS) was presented in [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of multi-criteria methods to compare different solutions of supplying buildings in electricity from photovoltaic systems

Mendecka

Stoltmann

2016

E3S Web Conf.

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Abstract. Nowadays, the technologies of electricity generation in distributed systems are usually associated with Renewable Energy Sources (RES). The choice of the construction site depends mainly on the availability of the power system. However, energy planning, especially in case of RES, is a complex process involving multiple and often conflicting objectives. The complexity of the selection of the electricity system is typically addressed with the use of multi-criteria tools, involving all of the considered criteria and also different methods of their aggregation. The result is a final ranking of the available alternatives. This paper describes the application of a multi-criteria decision tool for the comparative analysis of the use of alternative options of the PV technology for electricity production. Four decision variants are considered, including the different construction of solar farms (static and movable structure) and different types of configuration of individual installation (off and on-grid). The construction of each new sources of electricity generation, including PV, is the multi-threaded and multi-dimensional decision problem. The criteria used in the analysis combine economic, environmental and social issues. The first of the considered criterion is the Net Present Value (NPV) which determines the economic viability of the project. The second criterion, thermo-ecological cost (TEC), connecting energy and environmental issues. Finally, the Land Use (LU) is considered as a social criterion. As aggregation function, the Weighted Sum Method (WSM) is used. The sensitivity analysis of the criteria weights was performed with the use of a novel method involving Monte Carlo simulation and a method of data reconciliation.

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Assessing the sustainability of renewable energy technologies using multi-criteria analysis: Suitability of approach for national-scale assessments and associated uncertainties

Cited by 249 publications

References 64 publications

Sustainability Assessment of Electricity Generation Technologies in Egypt Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

Sustainability Assessment of Electricity Generation Technologies in Egypt Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

Multicriteria analysis for sources of renewable energy using data from remote sensing

Application of multi-criteria methods to compare different solutions of supplying buildings in electricity from photovoltaic systems

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