When making a decision regarding investments in energy sector and energy planning, decision makers are often faced with multiple quantifiable and non-quantifiable criteria. Those criteria are usually conflicting and the solution, therefore, is highly influenced by the preferences of the decision-maker. Different multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods are used to advocate an action. Among many, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is widely used in many sectors, i.e. also in energy planning and power plant sitting. The AHP is based on a decomposition of a complex problem into a hierarchy of independent criteria. In this process, the decision-maker carries out simple pairwise comparison judgements which are then used to develop overall priorities for ranking the alternatives [1–3]. To understand and analyse the decisions (i.e. personal preferences of experts with different points of view) regarding the sitting of geothermal energy projects and geothermal energy utilization (with emphasis on Enhanced Geothermal Systems), an Excel-based AHP survey was prepared. The selected influencing factors (i.e. criteria) were defined based on an extensive literature review and mutual agreement of experts with various backgrounds related to geothermal energy projects.
On the link below you can download the Excel file. The Excel file consists of 3 sheets. On the first sheet („Introduction“), you can find a brief description of the MCDM and AHP itself, and the input cells regarding your field of expertise and background. On the second sheet („Input“), you are asked to conduct simple pairwise comparison judgements, i.e. you are asked to fill in all present matrices (each matrix represents one major group of influencing factors; there are five groups) according to instructions also included in this sheet. On the third sheet („Results“), the results of your prioritization (i.e. weighting of the criteria) are visually and tabularly shown.
After finishing the survey, please send it to the following e-mail address: MEET@fer.hr
The collected feedback and results will be used in an extensive analysis conducted for the MEET project and published in a journal article which is already in process of writing. By downloading the survey and sending your filled version, you are aware that the results will be used anonymously for the analysis and will be submitted for a publication in an open-access scientific journal.
[1] Saaty TL, Vargas L. Models, methods, concepts & applications of the analytic hierarchy process. vol. 175. 2nd ed. New York: Springer; 2012. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-3597-6.
[2] Saaty TL. The Analytic Hierarchy and Analytic Network Processes for the Measurement of Intangible Criteria and for Decision-Making. In: Greco S, Ehrgott M, Figueira JR, editors. Mult. Criteria Decis. Anal. State Art Surv., vol. 233. 2nd ed., New York: Springer Science+ Business Media; 2016, p. 927–76. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-3094-4.
[3] Saaty TL. Decision making with the analytic hierarchy process. Int J Serv Sci 2008;1:83–98.