Renewable Energy Sources taking as basis the AHP Method and Fuzzy Logic concerning Distributed Generation Systems

Abstract-Several discussions have been made in the last few years about which type of energy source would be the most appropriated choice to be utilized in distributed generation (DG) systems. In this context, the increasing interest in the use of renewable sources of energy can be view as the main cause of these debates. There is a large concern about using appropriate methods to analyze different types of green energy sources and its application in DG hybrid systems. Besides, it is important to observe that renewable sources are environmental friendly and have governmental incentives for their development in most countries, including Brazil. This paper has the purpose to develop a multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) to evaluate the operation of the renewable energy sources-wind generators, microturbines, photovoltaic cells and fuel cells. It is used for the investigation several parameters, namely: environmental impacts, efficiency, costs, lifecycle, technical maturity and power application range. These criteria are evaluated via methodology based on the scheme developed by Saaty – the AHP- and the Fuzzy Logic. This methodology also considers different scenarios in the analysis. Material and results described in this paper are derived from a Research and Development program (R&D) undertaken by the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), Brazil