Multicriteria choice of a lignite field for mine development and power plant construction

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the application of multicriteria analysis to the optimal choice of a lignite field for (i) mine development and (ii) the corresponding power plant construction. These two activities are considered within the same project and cannot be separated. The alternatives used are the following six sites of lignite deposits, with their possible maximum power plant capacity quoted in parenthesis,considered as projects: Elassona (1 x 500 MW or 2 x 250 MW), Komnina (1 x 300 MW), Ioannina (1 x 125MW), Filippi - Drama (4 x 300 MW), Karitena (1 x 125 MW), Servia (1 x 300 MW). The criteria used cover a variety of aspects concerning that kind of projects. Two of the PROMETHEE methods were adopted to satisfy the needs of this study. The application of PROMETHEE II gave the following absolute ordering, in terms of diminishing preference: Elassona, Drama, Komnina, Karitena, Servia, and Ioannina. This order is very near to another one, which was obtained by a simpler method. The application of an algorithmic procedure in accordance with the more refined techniques of PROMETHEE I revealed a more complicated partial order where incomparabilities between lignite fields also coexist. Nevertheless, all methods used confirm the order of the first two fields, which form a stable solution for the problem of choosing the most proper lignite fields for mine development.