ASSESSMENT OF SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGIES USING MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES AND HIERARCHICAL DECISION MODELING: POLICY MAKERS WORLDVIEW

摘要

Globally, the deployment of solar energy is becoming increasingly important for developing and emerging economies. Policy makers need to provide policies that not only take into consideration technical performance and economic feasibility, but also social, environmental, and political impacts. Hence assessment of photovoltaic technologies using multiple perspectives such as social, technological, economic, environmental, and political (STEEP) is becoming part of policy framing and rulemaking. Each perspective consists of qualitative and quantitative criteria. A hierarchical decision model using expert judgment quantification was developed earlier for ranking the criteria. The model was operationalized by the use of desirability functions for each criterion. The combined results provide scores for each solar technology alternative under consideration. The results also identify the criteria which require improvements and indicate how much improvement is required. Such modeling for assessing technologies using multiple competing perspectives and criteria is being accepted for its effectiveness and flexibility. In earlier research the electric utility worldview was considered to assess multiple photovoltaic technologies. This paper is a case study of a national policy makers worldview. Parallel research was completed for the solar photovoltaic manufacturer worldview.