Renewable Energy Technology Selection for Iran by Using Multi Criteria Decision Making

Abstract

Energy is required for wide variety of applications including industrial activities, transportation, heating etc. Regarding the issues raised due the consumption of fossil fuels such as emission of greenhouse gases, renewable energy utilization has been expanded in recent decades. Power generation is a key element in the energy systems of countries and significant parts of primary energy consumption is applied for this purpose. Renewable energy-based systems, e.g. solar systems, wind turbines and geothermal power plants are applicable for this purpose. In the present study, o multicriteria decision making approach, TOPSIS, is employed to prioritize conventional renewable energy systems for power generation in Iran. In this way, different criteria are considered to rank the technologies for power generation for the case study. The criteria are weighted on the basis of the questionnaire completed by the experts in this field. Results revealed that applying solar PV is the most preferable technology for power generation in utility-scale in Iran.