Title: Multi-criteria decision-making for solar panel selection using an integrated analytical hierarchy process and VIKOR approach: a case study

Authors: Gnanasekaran Sasikumar; A. Sivasangari

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, GMR Institute of Technology, Srikakulam-532127, Andhra Pradesh, India ' Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, GMR Institute of Technology, Srikakulam-532127 Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract: A solar panel forms an integral part of a photovoltaic (PV) system and many works are reported to reduce its material costs with better efficiency. Solar panel for PV system includes both tangible and intangible criteria which affects the selection of suitable solar panel. In this paper, a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach that includes analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and VIKOR is developed for the assessment and ranking of solar panels. The AHP method is utilised to fix compromise solution with incommensurable and contradictory criteria, consisting of five potential solar panels and eight selection criteria such as performance test conditions (PTC) power rating, standard test condition (STC) power, peak efficiency, temperature coefficient, energy density, weight, quality and service support, chosen for solar panel selection. The relative importance of all criteria is measured and the AHP method is applied for the calculation of the weights. Subsequently, VIKOR method is used for ranking and selecting the solar panel alternatives among the presence of conflicting criteria.

Keywords: solar panel; analytical hierarchy process; AHP; multi-criteria decision-making; MCDM; VIKOR.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2022.123625

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2022 Vol.40 No.2, pp.285 - 298

Received: 16 Sep 2019
Accepted: 07 Dec 2019
Published online: 30 Jun 2022 *

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