Analytic hierarchy process; Electricity planning; Multi-criteria decision-making; Sustainability assessment; Yangtze River Delta region; Electricity-generation technology; Energy; Multi criteria decision-making; Multicriteria decision-making; Multicriterion decision makings; Regional sustainability; Yangtze river delta; Yangtze river delta region; Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment; Energy Engineering and Power Technology
Abstract :
[en] Decision-makers are increasingly concerned about the sustainability of power generation technologies to achieve a secure and sustainable electricity supply in the future. This study aims to assess the sustainability of the eight key electricity generation technologies in the energy-importing Yangtze River Delta region of China and further enhance the regional sustainability of the electricity generation mix. We employed the multi-criteria decision-making process to rank the sustainability of the eight electricity generation technologies from the perspective of various decision-makers. First, the results revealed that no technology is absolutely most sustainable. Second, the subjective findings show that hydropower is the most sustainable technology among the assessed ones, followed by nuclear and onshore wind power. Third, policymakers regard fossil fuel energy as more sustainable than investors and experts. Furthermore, local renewable diffusion and substantial electricity imports from renewable-rich areas can enhance the sustainability of the local electricity system. In addition, an interregional electricity transmission grid with the neighbor Anhui province as the primary backup power supplier can sufficiently enhance the sustainability of the electricity system in the Yangtze River Delta region.
Disciplines :
Agriculture & agronomy
Author, co-author :
Peng, Yechennan ; Institute of Geography, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of Hamburg, Germany ; Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Yang, Liang Emlyn; Department of Geography, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany ; John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), Harvard University, Cambridge, United States
Scheffran, Jürgen; Institute of Geography, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of Hamburg, Germany
Jiang, Ping; Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Azadi, Hossein ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Modélisation et développement ; Institute of Geography, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of Hamburg, Germany
Language :
English
Title :
Assessing and enhancing the regional sustainability of electricity generation technologies in an energy-importing megaregion in China
The research project was carried out at the School of Integrated Climate System Sciences (SICSS) at University of Hamburg . We are grateful to the financial support of the DFG Sino-German Mobility Program ( M-0049 ) and the support by the cluster of excellence “Climate, Climatic Change and Society” (CLICCS) funded by the DFG. We thank Jinang Zhu and Chujun Wang for their kind help in implementing the qualitative surveys at the Yangtze River Delta region.
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