Title: Multicriteria evaluation of power generation alternatives towards lignite phase-out: the case of Ptolemaida V

Authors: Georgios P. Trachanas; Nikos Mantzaris; Vangelis Marinakis; Haris Doukas

Addresses: Decision Support Systems Laboratory, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9, Heroon Polytechniou Str., 157 73, Athens, Greece ' The Green Tank, 50 Vas. Sofias Ave. 115 28, Athens, Greece ' Decision Support Systems Laboratory, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9, Heroon Polytechniou Str., 157 73, Athens, Greece ' Decision Support Systems Laboratory, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9, Heroon Polytechniou Str., 157 73, Athens, Greece

Abstract: Replacing existing lignite power plants with cleaner infrastructure serves as a complicated problem in the presence of economic, environmental, and societal crucial factors. In the present paper, we explore replacement options for the case of Ptolemaida V lignite power plant, Greece, which is planned to stop its operation by 2028 at the latest. In this context, we analyse four replacement technology alternatives: CO2 capture and storage, biomass, combined cycle gas turbine with fossil gas, and thermal energy storage coupled with renewable energy. Evaluation is based on an extended version of the VIKOR method, incorporating simultaneously uncertain data and incomplete criteria weights. Numerical results show a narrow advantage of thermal energy storage in most scenarios, while CO2 capture and storage, and lignite-biomass cooperation constitute rather inadequate solutions. Finally, we formulate a regret-oriented VIKOR-based decision support framework to cope with similar problems under the presence of scenario uncertainty.

Keywords: lignite phase-out; power generation planning; multicriteria decision making; MCDM; VIKOR; incomplete weights.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCDM.2022.124746

International Journal of Multicriteria Decision Making, 2022 Vol.9 No.1, pp.17 - 42

Received: 13 Sep 2021
Accepted: 02 Dec 2021

Published online: 08 Aug 2022 *

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