"Qualitative analysis to assess the best renewable energy scenario for sustainable energy planning"

Abstract

Rural population in developing nation is having limited access to the clean and modern energy sources. Rural poor in India are mostly dependent on electricity, fire wood, dung, and biomass for their domestic energy need. Due to the dependence on conventional energy sources pollution and rural health are the issue of concern which directly affect on the national productivity. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy of the Government of India giving stress to intensify the energy supply and modern sources of energy to rural area up to normal consumption level through renewable energy sources The aim of the present study is to determine the best renewable energy scenario for sustainable development of rural area. For this aim, author used both quantitative and qualitative analysis technique to determine the best energy scenario for application. For quantitative analysis multi objective goal programming model is used and the result obtained by it validated with multi-attribute decision making approach. The present work specifically focused on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology. In the proposed method, the weights of the selection criteria are determined by pair-wise comparison matrices of the AHP. Results indicate that Cost Employment Generation Scenario (CEGS) is the most appropriate renewable energy option.