EVALUATION OF ENERGY STORAGE ALTERNATIVES FOR HYBRID ENERGY SYSTEMS USING A HESITANT FUZZY APPROACH

Abstract

Hybrid energy systems are energy systems, in which various renewable energy sources are placed together. In some cases, placement of energy storage units within hybrid energy systems could be helpful to mitigate the effects of energy supply amount variability from renewable sources. At this point, selection of the most appropriate energy storage system is a critical decision which requires consideration of a number of factors simultaneously and can be modeled as a multi-criteria decision making problem. The main aim of this study is to develop an analytic approach to determine the most appropriate energy storage system alternative for a hybrid energy system of a town by considering hesitant nature of decision makers’ in expressing their feelings on decision elements. To do so, a hybrid group decision making approach based on Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic Terms Set (HFLTS) and Vise Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) methods is proposed. Six alternative energy storage systems are evaluated in views of 4 main and 12 subcriteria by using the proposed approach. Obtained results demonstrate that the method can be used a decision tool for energy storage system selection decisions in hybrid energy systems.