Linking least-cost energy system costs models with MCA: An assessment of the EU renewable energy targets and supporting policies

Abstract

There are several technoeconomic modeling approaches that provide quantitative results such as costs and the level of achievement of certain renewable energy (RE) policy targets. These approaches often do not consider other important factors for policy implementation (such as socio-political aspects and stakeholders' preferences). Recent multicriteria analysis (MCA) approaches attempt to integrate these multiple aspects in decision making process. In this respect, aim of this paper is to combine technoeconomic modeling and MCA approaches in a general analytical framework incorporating multiple aspects. Each method in an RE policy interaction problem can feed in the necessary policy information for the subsequent steps of an ex-ante and an ex-post assessment in a decision tree, starting from recognizing the need for implementing a new policy in parallel to the incumbent ones, assessing the actual policy costs and finally identifying the social acceptability of these RE policies.