Analyzing the Solar Energy System Investment in Turkey

Abstract

This study investigates the calculation of analyzing solar energy investment decisions applying Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods. With the increasing energy demand all over the world, governments’ policy has changed in recent years to balance the gap between supply and demand. Also, the governments take into consideration decrease external energy dependence by finding alternative energy resources. For this purpose, it is thought that benefitting from renewable energy can be the other alternative solution for balancing the gap between energy demand and supply with low expenses with easy application processes. Solar energy is one of the most preferable renewable energy in the world due to acceptable investment costs and sustainability. Turkey is convenient to set up solar energy power plants in terms of solar energy potential and geographical features. MDCM methods are applied to solve not only basic energy problem but also complex energy management decision problems. For this reason, the purpose of this paper is to decide which area of Turkey would be more appropriate to invest in solar energy power plants by proposing an optimum investment decision plan comparing with the alternative investment fields. To deal with that, 14 important subcriteria in four main criteria (e.g., economic, environmental, technical, and energy) are determined to analyze the investment decision as These criteria are applied in different MDCM methods such as Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Elimination Et Choix Traduisant la Realité (ELECTRE), and Preference Ranking Organization Method For Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE). By comparing the results of these three methods, the optimum investment decision is determined for the selected districts from Tukey. Also, the solution’s sensitivity is shown with sensitivity analysis. The results of the proposed methods indicate that high flexibility for decision-makers to reach a comprehensive information range for solar energy investment decisions based on real data sets from different sides of Turkey. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.