Prioritize the renewable-power plants using a combination of Modified Digital Logic and fuzzy VIKOR methods

Renewable energy types such as solar, wind or geothermal energy have been increasingly considered by different countries over the last few years in order to diversify power sources, reduce dependence on one single of energy, and achieve sustainable energy. On the other hand, rising prices of fossil fuels and the fact that they are finite, environmental pollution and evolution of the related technologies have drawn attention to renewable energy. This paper identifies economical, environmental, social and technical aspects of quantitative and qualitative criteria for renewable-power plant. Then a hybrid method of a Modified Digital Logic and fuzzy VIKOR is presented to weight the criteria and prioritize renewable-power plants. To illustrate the proposed method, a case study in the country Iran is presented; in which five types of renewable-power plants are evaluated. Results suggest that the priorities according to the criteria are hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, biomass and photovoltaic power plants, respectively.