Support for multicriteria group decision with voting procedures: Selection of electricity generation technologies

Abstract

Energy has great importance for the development of society with the achievement of primary goals, contributing to the quality of life and economic development of a country. Its offer is carried out from different sources, and plans related to selecting these sources for electricity generation began to characterize increasingly complex multicriteria decision scenarios. Multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) models have been used in sustainable energy management, providing solutions to problems involving conflicting and multiple goals. Generally, different decision-makers are involved in the process, so it is essential to use a solid, logical, and systematic process to reach the group's decisions. In this study, a real application is analyzed with a group decision scenario that brought together seven decision-makers from different significant areas of activity to reach a single global decision on the best energy source for a new electricity generation facility. A framework was used for the decision-making process to select the most suitable voting procedure, in this case, the Copeland procedure. The aggregation of the individual results obtained for each area was performed. The biomass source with residue burning was achieved as a result.

Keywords

• Group decision
• Energy planning
• Voting procedure
• Sustainability
• Multicriteria decision
• Voting rule selection