Application of MCDM Tool Integrated with SWOT Analysis for Prioritization of Strategies to Optimize Distributed Hybrid Energy Systems for Better Sustainability

Energy transition is a current global challenge. Deciding a right path to meet the ever-increasing global energy demand at an affordable cost with low-carbon options is a critical challenge. Deciding appropriate energy strategies and determining their priorities are necessary for proper energy transition. Energy strategy determination is decided on the basis of the country's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) related to the energy sector. Evaluating proper energy strategies is a perpetual process to prioritize issues in energy planning. Different authorities are responsible for deciding the proper priorities of energy strategies on the basis of new and improved alternative solutions to achieve sustainable development. As energy strategy prioritization correlates several conflicting and interlinked issues and the SWOT method is unable to decide the priority, integrating a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach is critical. Integrating SWOT with an MCDM method is generic yet novel and one of the best possible options to formulate and prioritize energy strategies for a better energy transition towards sustainability. The study comprehensively reviewed the SWOT-MCDM methods along with the future direction of the research applied in different fields specially focused on energy transition.