A Hybrid Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making Approach for Photovoltaic Solar Plant Location Selection

Abstract

Due to decaying fossil resource and increasing environmental consciousness, the demand of renewable energy resources is escalating these days. Photovoltaic solar energy is one of the most popular renewable energy resources in places where sunlight is abundant. The selection of a desirable location for constructing a photovoltaic solar plant is the first and one of the most important stages in the plant construction to provide a long-term energy production. In this paper, a comprehensive multiple-criteria decision-making model, which incorporates the interpretive structural modeling (ISM), fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) and VIKOR (VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje in Serbian, meaning multi-criteria optimization and compromise solution), is proposed to select the most suitable photovoltaic solar plant location. The ISM is applied first to determine the interrelationships among the criteria and among the sub-criteria, and the results are used to construct a decision-making network. The FANP is applied next to solve the network and to calculate the importance weights of the sub-criteria. Finally, the VIKOR is adopted to determine the ranking of the photovoltaic solar plant locations. The proposed model is applied in a case study in evaluating photovoltaic solar plant locations in Taiwan. By applying the proposed model, decision makers can have a better thinking process and make more appropriate decisions justifiably.

Determinant factors in site selection for photovoltaic projects: A systematic review

“…The factor expansion capacity of the solar power plant was not used in most studies. At the same time, it is considered relevant, since it prizes areas that are likely to expand in the future . This possibility of expansion is analyzed through the area in the available environment.…”

“…At the same time, it is considered relevant, since it prizes areas that are likely to expand in the future. 32 This possibility of expansion is analyzed through the area in the available environment. Besides that, the existence of other power plants is near to that local, because if there is one installed near the chosen place, there is a possibility for this existing power plant to expand, increasing competitiveness in the local market.…”

Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) Approaches for Solar Power Plant Location Selection in Viet Nam

“…Kabir and Hasin [18] proposed a hybrid fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and PROMEETHE for locating power substation sites. Lee, Kang and Liou [19] proposed a hybrid model including ISM, FANP and VIKOR to select the most suitable PV solar plant site. Suh and Brownson applied GISFS and AHP approaches to select PV solar plant locations [20].…”

A Project Management Plan to Reach Sustainable Competitive Advantage for a Photovoltaic (PV) Manufacturer

“…By analyzing experts' opinions and adopting supermatrix manipulations, the priorities of the alternatives can be obtained. Because uncertainty and ambiguity are often present in practice, fuzzy set theory can be incorporated into the ANP [24]. The methodology is called fuzzy ANP, or FANP.…”