Multi-Criteria Decision Making using Relative Ratio Method for Locating a Small Hydropower Plant in Central Greece

The selection of the best location for the placement of a small hydropower plant is an important issue on engineering because it affects the cost effectiveness of the investment and the environment (mainly local), too. This paper deals with the selection of the optimal location of a small hydropower plant among several candidate sites (eight alternative locations in Central Greece), based on multi-criteria analysis. Techno-economic analysis was the only criteria for locating a hydropower plant until now. In this paper the Multiple Criteria Decision Making theory was selected in order to find the optimum location of a small hydropower plant, under complex circumstances. The multicriteria method that was selected is Relative Ratio (RR). For the evaluation of the criteria and the weights of the problem the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was used. After the preliminary study of the hydropower plants, the selection and analysis of the eleven criteria, for the rating of the alternative positions as well as the weights took place. Finally, using the RR method, the alternatives were ranked and the optimum location for placing the small hydropower plant was obtained.