Multi-Criteria Decision Making for Energy Storage Systems
Summary
Energy storage systems (ESSs) are pivotal to the reliable integration of variable renewable energy sources and to meeting peak-demand requirements. The selection of an appropriate ESS involves balancing multiple, often conflicting, criteria such as technical performance, cost, environmental impact and social acceptability. Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) frameworks structure this complexity by defining a hierarchy of criteria and sub-criteria, eliciting stakeholder preferences and applying quantitative methods to rank or score alternatives. Traditional approaches such as the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Vlsekriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) have been widely used. More recent advances incorporate fuzzy-set theories—type-1, intuitionistic and spherical fuzzy environments—to capture uncertainty and subjective judgement. Hybrid methodologies that combine weighting methods (for example, entropy, best–worst method) with ranking algorithms (for example, PROMETHEE, MARCOS) have been developed to enhance robustness and consensus. These frameworks have underpinned decision-making in diverse contexts, from hydrogen storage options to grid-scale batteries and prosumer-based systems, providing practitioners and policymakers with transparent, flexible tools for investment, regulatory and project-planning decisions.
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Multi-Criteria Decision Making for Energy Storage Systems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in multi-criteria decision making for energy storage systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM): A structured approach for evaluating and ranking alternatives based on multiple, often conflicting criteria.
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP): A pairwise comparison method to derive weights for criteria and score alternatives in a hierarchical decision model.
Fuzzy Set Theory: A mathematical framework that represents uncertain or imprecise information through degrees of membership rather than binary classification.
PROMETHEE: A preference ranking organisation method that compares alternatives by outranking flows to establish a complete or partial order.
Spherical Fuzzy Sets: An extension of fuzzy sets that captures membership, non-membership and indeterminacy to model higher uncertainty in expert judgements.
References
- Sustainable stationary hydrogen storage application selection with interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy AHP. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2024).
- A computational sustainable approach for energy storage systems performance evaluation based on spherical-fuzzy MCDM with considering uncertainty. Energy Reports (2024).
- Hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision Framework for Prosumers Energy Storage Systems in Smart Grids. IEEE Access (2024).
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