A new approach for evaluation of renewable energy resources: A case of Turkey

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe energy needs of Turkey, especially electricity and heating, will eventually increase in the next years since Turkey is one of the developing countries. The current energy policy of Turkey is mainly based on the fossil fuels and natural gases. However, the fossil fuels and natural gas are extremely harmful energy resources for environment as the emissions of greenhouse gases are very high level. Therefore, a long-term renewable energy policy planning should be developed. In this study, the evaluation of renewable energy resources for Turkey is accomplished using intuitionistic fuzzy Visekriterijumsko Kompromisno Rangiranje method in which criteria are expressed in both a quantitative and qualitative way for the first time in the literature. In the evaluation process, wind, hydro, solar, geothermal, and biomass are evaluated. Four main criteria – technological, environmental, sociological, and economic – are considered as main evaluation criteria and totally 12 subcriteria related to main criteria are also taken into consideration. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis has been conducted to identify which renewable energy resource is a better option under different circumstances.