Multi-criteria decision analysis of clean energy technologies for envisioning sustainable development goal 7 in Australia: Is solar energy a game-changer?

Abstract

Achieving energy sustainability is cardinal to align the efforts of any country towards climate actions. Australia being blessed with high renewable energy potential has an energy mix currently dominated by fossil fuels. This projects Australia as an interesting case study to analyse the potential of commercial clean energy technologies to pursue the vision of Sustainable Development Goal 7 in Australia. The proposed study incorporates a hybrid quantitative–qualitative methodology to assess the potential of clean energy technologies and direct the current scenario to achieve energy sustainability. Initially, the prominent commercialised clean energy technologies in Australia are identified which include hydropower, wind energy, solar energy and bioenergy. The evaluation criteria are designed to illustrate the characteristics of energy sustainability from the dimensions of energy transition, geographic, economic, political, social and environmental criteria. A total of 16 sub-criteria are outlined to reflect the energy sustainability vision against which the alternatives are assessed. The weightage to each criterion is determined by using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Shannon’s Entropy models. The potential of clean energy alternatives is assessed and ranked with the aid of 7 multicriteria decision-making models to obtain robust and reliable results. The results imply that solar energy technology has the highest potential to support the energy sustainability vision of Australia with a score of 39.7 % followed by wind energy, hydropower and bioenergy technologies with a score of 29.8 %, 20.6 % and 9.9 %, respectively. Sensitive analysis is performed to analyse the impact of weightage and normalization methods. Spearman’s weighted rank correlation analysis and the rank reversal test has been performed to validate the results. The qualitative assessment is performed to investigate the hindering and supporting factors to promote clean energy technologies in Australia and to frame the strategies to achieve SDG 7. Policies to support rooftop PV and investments towards either grid integration or grid expansion scenarios have a huge role in influencing the progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 7 in Australia.