The assessment of renewable energy sources with fuzzy MCDM: The case of BARMM region, philippines

Energy and a reliable access to it plays a very crucial role in our lives for it affects almost every aspect of it. It is essential for business, industries and services, as well as education, healthcare, communication. Lack of access to reliable energy hinders economic growth, as studies have shown how energy poverty and overall poverty are correlated. The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has been experiencing an energy crisis for a long time, with government electrification data showing that 58.26% of its households have no access to electricity. Because of this, the members of the parliament have urged through a resolution the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy to craft a comprehensive power development plan to explore the available renewable energy options in the region, namely geothermal, hydropower, biomass, solar and ocean energy. The creation of such plan aims to promote renewable energy and improve efficient use of energy, and consequently support livelihood programs for the population living in off-grid and un-electrified areas. Through a literature review, this study has identified several Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods to contribute towards the government's initiative. Six experts were identified and tasked to do criteria weight evaluation through pairwise comparison which was then treated with Fuzzy AHP. Their evaluation showed that economic criteria is the most important criteria to consider in selecting renewable energy options in the region. Furthermore, the experts were tasked to rate the performance of each alternative against each criterion, and Fuzzy TOPSIS, Fuzzy WASPAS and Fuzzy MOORA were used to process their responses. The results were consistent in showing that solar energy is the best alternative. Investing in solar energy doesn't only provide a solution to the region's perennial problem but could also contribute to the county's goal of reducing reliance to fossil fuels and increasing the share of renewable energy to the power mix.