ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS TO DETERMINE OPTIMAL RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES FOR INDIA'S POWER SECTOR

Abstract

Traditional energy generation sources like coal are reducing very drastically, so the unconventional renewable sources like wind, solar or hydro are the need of the hour. This chapter provides an analytical hierarchy to select green energy sources in India. Four alternatives – solar, wind, biomass, and hydro-power have been assessed on the basis of technical, economical, environmental and social impact. On technical grounds, generation capacity, availability, capacity and efficiency have been evaluated. In case of environment, particulate matter (PM), carbon emission (CO₂) and land requirements has been analyzed. Under social category job creation and compensation rate have been considered. Economical parameters are operational life, capital cost, construction time, fixed operational & maintenance cost and fuel cost. The weights of priority and preferential classification of the criteria and sub-criteria have been calculated by pair-wise comparisons. The results show that bio-mass energy is the preferable alternative under technical and social category while wind may be the choice when evaluated on environmental and economical grounds. Solar is also comparable on economical basis but overall priority consign to biomass followed by hydro-power, wind energy and solar energy.