Design and implementation of a group DSS for sustaining renewable energies exploitation

The large scale exploitation of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) has to be based on a completely different conception of the energy planning procedure. The shift towards small-scale and dispersed units in the energy system brings up significant difficulties in the problem's analysis and in the decision making process. This paper presents the basic structural characteristics of a group DSS designed for assisting decision makers in the promotion of RES. Specific attention is paid to the description of the decision making procedure which basically consists in the multicriteria analysis of alternative RES penetration scenarios by means of the PROMETHEE II outranking method. Scenarios are evaluated by a group of actors directly or indirectly involved in energy decisions which arrive; through a systematic negotiations procedure, at a wide consensus. Results from a real-world application of the DSS in Greece are presented and conclusions about the system's effectiveness are drawn. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.