Heterogeneous or homogeneous? A modified decision-making approach in renewable energy investment projects

The continuous increase of energy consumption resulted in the unavoidable increase in demand for renewable energy (RE) investment projects in recent years. Although the necessity of developing alternative energy sources is clear, the government cannot afford the huge investment in RE investment projects without private sector participation. Therefore, analyzing the decision-making procedure from the investor's point of view is essential to improve this process. Numerous studies in the literature developed various multi-criteria decision-making approaches using expert's judgments to provide informed decisions on RE investment projects. While prior efforts are valuable, accounting heterogeneity impact with regard to experts' background and knowledge on results has not been examined. Therefore, this study aims to develop a modified decision-making approach in RE projects using an analytical hierarchy process to: (1) provide a comprehensive review of investors criteria in RE projects; (2) evaluate how the level of expertise of experts in RE subject has an impact on the achieved common solution; and (3) determine the best RE alternative in different scenarios. Then, Iran, as a case study is selected to illustrate the model practicability. The results indicate that those who have higher expertise in the subject are more concerned about the "consumption market", and "government supportive policies". Whereas economic factors remain the most challenging criteria in less expert participation views. Both groups chose 'wind energy' as the best alternative energy source for investment based on current Iran's energy market. It is anticipated that the developed methodology and its results can be used by (1) government and public agencies to understand the investors' concerns; (2) investors to make a more-informed risk-based decision in RE projects or other complex decision-making projects.