Evaluating the strategies for sustainable energy planning in Pakistan: An integrated SWOT-AHP and Fuzzy-TOPSIS approach

This study proposes an integrated methodology based on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Fuzzy Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (F-TOPSIS) to evaluate energy strategies for sustainable energy planning. The SWOT analysis is employed to determine the factors and sub-factors essential for sustainable energy planning. Subsequently, AHP, a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method is used to determine the weights of each factor and sub-factor. Finally, F-TOPSIS method is used to rank the 13 energy strategies under the case study for Pakistan's to achieve sustainable energy planning. The results of the study reveal that providing low-cost and sustainable electricity to residential, commercial, and industrial sectors (WO5) is highly prioritized energy strategy. While the utilization of coal resources and transformations of same into electricity (WO2) is prioritized as least favored energy strategy. The sensitivity analysis of the results validates the robustness of the study. This study, as such, proposes a systematic approach to develop and evaluate energy strategies for the sustainable energy planning and policy endeavor of Pakistan. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.