Sustainability assessment of renewable energy site location using a combinatorial decision-making model under uncertainty and data reliability

Decision-making has become one of the most important aspects of various problems. Accordingly, making the right decision accurately and efficiently based on the most influential criteria is still one of the critical challenges in this area. Among various optimisation issues, sustainable development of renewable energies is one the most crucial in which one of the significant prerequisites is considering the most suitable location for establishing renewable power plants. Based on these motivations, this paper developed a combinatorial multi-criteria decision model using Fuzzy-DEMATEL (FDEMATEL), Fuzzy-ANP (FANP) and Z-number-DEA (ZDEA) methods considering uncertainty and data reliability. For validation of the proposed model, a decision problem is considered for the location selection of a landfill with the aims of managing urban waste, reducing the total cost, improving the efficiency of waste disposal and community social issues. This model considers four indicators, including environmental, economic, social and strategic aspects. In addition, the Crisp-DEA (DEA) and Fuzzy-DEA (FDEA) methods are employed to validate the results using the Non-Parametric Spearman Correlation Test and a sensitivity analysis is performed for the ZDEA model. In the next step, a managerial analysis is presented. Finally, a comparison is discussed between the proposed model and existing decision models.