Evaluation of renewable energy sources for Turkey by using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and the survey study analysis with SPSS

Today, energy is the one of the most essential resources needed for the economic and social development of countries. As a result of the increase in population and development of industry, the need for energy is increasing day by day. However, most of the energy resources consumed today come from fossil fuels which are a non-renewable energy resource and cause harmful effects on the environment. Technological improvements and an increasing energy deficit have made countries increasingly consider renewable energy resources and to investigate alternatives. Therefore, in this study, it was aimed to evaluate the alternative renewable energy resources by applying Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method which is one of the most widely used multi-criteria decision-making methods. By using AHP, hydroelectric energy, wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, and biomass energy resources will be evaluated under several criteria. These criteria were determined as technical, economic, environmental, social, risk, benefit criteria and then divided into sub criteria for more comprehensive analysis. In this study, the most to least suitable energy sources were found by using AHP. In order to apply the AHP approach and construct the related matrices, experts in the energy field were asked for comparisons. In addition to that, a survey of the experts was carried out and the responses of this survey were analysed by using SPSS statistical tool. According to SPSS results, significant relations between criteria and the questions were analysed. A consistency check of AHP methods were held by using the survey results analysed by SPSS. To sum up, it was believed that findings from this study could contribute to determining the type of renewable energy source that would be the pioneer in the future, in terms of investment capacity, recycle ratio, productivity, and being environmentally friendly from the AHP point of view.