State-of-the-art: Multi criteria decision making variables on solar PV business potential

Abstract

Most developing countries, such as Indonesia, have increased targets for renewable energy. These developing countries still have limited framework alternatives that can be used as a business assessment tool or guideline for renewable energy. The characteristics in developing countries are different from developed countries, there are some challenges in adopting the global renewable energy tools that do not suit the characteristics of developing countries. Several literatures describe several variations of methods for decision making in the field of renewable energy sources, particularly the multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method has been at the forefront as the most widely used method for evaluation of the best location. Due to the climate, proximity to other facilities, and the existence of protected environmental areas, the location of photovoltaic power plants is a key issue for large-scale projects. There are some papers that analyze and research about the selection process and method to choose the best location. This research has compiled and analyzed the state-of-the-art in MCDA variable in energy business potential decision making research that has been conducted in the past years and looks for research gaps that can be used as a reference for conducting further research. From the analysis, there is still a gap in current research that fulfills all aspects (technical, politic, economy, social, legal, environmental) into one assessment. Technical aspect is the most used variable and the legal aspect is the least used variable. Analyzing all six aspects into one integrated risk assessment to select the potential location for floating solar PV will be the novelty of the research. In addition, the existing studies are dominated by land solar PV objects and very few have raised the topic of floating solar PV. This is something that needs to be studied because the risk character of floating PV is different from land PV.