A multicriteria decision making approach for evaluating renewable power generation sources in Saudi Arabia

• The problem of renewable energy resource evaluation is investigated.
• Solar PV, concentrated solar thermal, wind, geothermal and biomass are used.
• Multi-criteria decision making approach called AHP is used.
• The proposed study is applied on Saudi Arabia.
• The results favor solar PV then solar thermal technologies as the top alternatives.

Renewable energy sources are seen as potential alternatives for future energy generation and fossil fuel consumption. In this paper, we propose a multicriteria decision making approach based on analytical hierarchy process for evaluating five renewable power generation sources namely: solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, wind energy, biomass, and geothermal. The criteria used can be categorized as technical, socio-political, economic, and environmental criteria. A case study for Saudi Arabia is provided as a major oil producer and global supplier. The results of our study show that solar photovoltaic followed by concentrated solar power are the most favorable technologies followed by wind energy. The performance of each renewable energy resource per end-node criteria is presented and sensitivity analysis is conducted to observe how the overall rankings of alternatives change with respect to the priority weights of each criteria. By implementing energy mix policy, Saudi Arabia can preserve its finite energy resources for the future to back its strong economic and industrial growth. The findings of this research will help the prioritization of RE sources portfolio towards enhanced sustainability and development.