4.3.3 Enabling Collaborative Decision Making: A Process for Integrating Novel Systems Engineering Tools and Methods for Renewable Energy Portfolio Analysis

Abstract

Increasingly complex problems drive systems engineers to develop novel decision making processes. The breadth of complex problems demands the interaction of various groups, each focusing on specific areas but all addressing a higher level common cause. The process brought forth in this paper integrates a series of methods, some widely accepted and others which are novel in nature. Quality Function Deployment is used to capture customer desires and focus engineering level requirements. Multi-Attribute Decision Making is used to identify system configurations when multiple and competing objectives exist, which is a situation where traditional optimization struggles. The process of surrogate modeling is introduced to rapidly access elements of modeling and simulation, a necessary step to analyze system options. The very integration of these methods enables collaborative decision making. A proof of concept is presented where each of these methods is applied to aid in the portfolio analysis of renewable energy system options for a remote off-grid site.