Towards Efficient Energy Solutions: MCDA-Driven Selection of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems

Abstract

In these days of growing awareness on Renewable Energy Sources and their benefits, there is a major issue that needs to be considered, which is selection of suitable Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) among the vast multitude of choices. In this paper, multiple Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques are proposed to select the best among a choice of six HRES Systems using different criteria including but not limited to net present cost (NPC), operating cost, renewability fraction, CO2 & NOx emissions etc. The criteria weights are obtained using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) based on the preference order of the criteria. The decision matrix is obtained from the statistical data of the different HRES and using different MCDA techniques such as Multi-Objective Optimization on the Basis of Ratio Analysis (MOORA), Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR), rankings are given to the HRES systems based on their closeness to the ideal solution. These rankings are helpful in the selection of suitable HRES configuration for normal household purposes. Since cost aspects are given greater preference, the obtained rankings lean more towards economically affordable solutions without compromising on the number of units generated.