Sustainability Ranking of Solar Power Projects using Multi-Criteria Decision Methods (MCDM)
Abstract
Large-scale Solar Power projects are highly capital intensive, however, a great many of them are being commissioned all over the world, in addition to already existing ones. Such renewable energy projects involve a large number of sustainability factors from diverse areas covering technical, environmental, economic and social criteria. Multi-Criteria Decision Methods (MCDM) provide a framework for sustainability evaluation of projects with a range of sustainability factors. To understand these various criteria, existing solar projects in India and China are evaluated based on selected factors using MCDM. Four different methods are adopted to rank these projects in order of their sustainability and the results analyzed and discussed. Keywords: Sustainability, Solar Power Projects, Multi-Criteria Decision Methods