Multi-criteria analysis of brazilian wind farms

Abstract

Research with renewable energy sources, especially wind and solar energy, has been increasingly gaining the attention of researchers, development agencies and companies as a complement to traditional energy sources with finite reserves or hydropower. Although renewable sources rely on random climate conditions, their performance has rarely been evaluated adequately. Therefore, evaluating the performance of these renewable sources is essential to identify generation potentials and establish benchmarks in this sector. In this study, the aim is to evaluate the performance of Brazilian wind farms using a multi-criteria approach. In order to achieve this objective financial, technical, and operational performance criteria were evaluated, divided into nine sub-criteria, based on data survey among twenty plant managers. The modelling combined different renewable technology approaches to represent the entire system. Three methods were combined and compared: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE), and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), to evaluate the performance of five Brazilian farms. The two major results of this study are: Â (1) the interviewed managers had different perceptions when responding to the group of criteria and subcriteria, and (2) PROMETHEE and DEA methods achieved similar results. However, DEA is preferred method, as it indicates how and by how much an inefficient unit/farm should improve to consider efficient.