Renewable energy projects assessment using economic criteria

Abstract

Unstable electricity supply is a major challenge for Kosovo* and especially for Serb-majority communities. Renewable energy may represent one of the possible solutions to improve the energy security of those areas. Therefore, the municipality of Štrpce was selected as the research area of the paper, and it is located in the south of Kosovo* . However, renewable energy potentials have not been sufficiently explored and specific projects are not proposed. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to define renewable energy projects. Based on renewable energy potential and electricity consumption in Štrpce, a set of 8 renewable energy potential projects has been defined using Homer pro software. However, the problem that arises is the choice of an adequate alternative on the basis of economic criteria. Six criteria were selected for the evaluation of renewable energy projects. To assess criteria analytical hierarchy process is employed. The highest priority was given to the criterion energy sold (0.280) while the top-ranked project is refer to installation of photovoltaic panels in households to cover 50% of energy needs while the rest is taken from the grid (0.222). In future research, in addition to used economic criteria, other groups of criteria such as technical, environmental and socio-political should be analyzed.