Evaluation of Configuration Plans for DGs in Developing Countries using Tradeoff Analysis and MADM

Many developing countries have emphasis on DG technology for their generation expansion planning. The planning considerations and judicious choice of attributes is dictated by the prevailing conditions. With the increased complexities in DG planning options along with multiple attributes to be accounted, more sophisticated techniques are needed to arrive at the correct decisions by decision makers. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is proposed to identify the relative significance of the chosen attributes. Proper integration of different attributes can be achieved by linear additive utility function. The uncertainties are accounted using tradeoff analysis by co-relating normalized values of chosen attributes. The superior plans can be identified at the knee set of tradeoff region. The solution space can be further narrowed by the statistical method like interval based multi-attribute decision making (MADM). The attributes considered are capital costs, energy not served per annum, and profits from injecting power into grid at peak load for all cases. The uncertain futures considered are three possible loading conditions which can be low, medium, and high. The different scenarios (plans) are generated by various combinations of configurations. DGs can be configured as stand alone, hybrid operation, and micro-grid formation, leading to a total of 11 distinct plans. The grid connection is considered optional. The sample system is derived from a practical system in India which is typical representative of a developing country. The results indicate that the proposed decision making technique has an ability to quantify the merits and evaluate plans on a common platform. The assessment of plans is presented and discussed