Sensitivity Analysis Based Comparative Assessment of Resource Mix Using MCDM Technique: A Case Study of Thar Desert, India

In the last decade, there has been a lot of focus on sustainable development in the electrical power industry to meet the growing energy demand. This has led to an increase in the integration of renewable energy sources (RES). In addition to being abundantly available, the RES offers advantages such as low environmental impact and increased social development of rural communities which are imperative for a sustainable society.  However, the selection of a particular generating resource or resource mix (RM) for an autonomous micro-grid is a complex problem that involves multiple conflicting factors. In this paper, a planning strategy for selecting an appropriate RM has been proposed. Seven RMs comprising different combinations of four generation/storage technologies such as solar photovoltaic array (SPVA), wind turbine (WT), diesel generator (DG) and battery storage (BS) have been considered. The planning is initiated with the determination of optimal component sizing for all seven RMs. The RMs are then analyzed with respect to four primary sustainability parameters i.e. economic, social, technical and environmental. The analysis is further enhanced by investigation of 13 sub-parameters as well. Thereafter, prioritization of RMs is carried out using two MCDM methods Best worst method (BWM) and PROMETHEE II. Finally, to assert the importance of weight assignment on RM ranking, sensitivity analysis is performed. In order to impart the practical aspect to analysis, the planning formulation is applied to a case study of the Thar desert, India. The results suggest that a combination of SPVA and BS provides the most optimum RM solution.