Multicriteria renewable energy planning using an integrated fuzzy VIKOR & AHP methodology: The case of Istanbul

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, it is aimed at determining the best renewable energy alternative for Istanbul by using an integrated VIKOR-AHP methodology. Second, a selection among alternative energy production sites in this city is made using the same approach. In the proposed VIKOR-AHP methodology, the weights of the selection criteria are determined by pairwise comparison matrices of AHP. In energy decision making problems, the judgments of decision makers are usually vague. As it is relatively difficult for decision makers to provide exact values for the criteria, the evaluation data for the alternative energy policies should be expressed in linguistic terms. In order to model this kind of uncertainty in human preferences, fuzzy logic is applied very successfully. Thus, both classical VIKOR and classical AHP procedures are performed under fuzzy environment. The originality of the paper comes from the application of the proposed integrated VIKOR-AHP methodology to the selection of the best energy policy and production site. It is found that wind energy is the most appropriate renewable energy option and Catalca district is the best area among the alternatives for establishing wind turbines in Istanbul. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.