A review of the application of analytic hierarchy process to the planning and operation of electric power microgrids

This paper reviews literature that identifies the need for decision-making associated with the design and operation of electric power grids including microgrids. In particular, it examines the current applications of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) as the decision-making tool for electric power grids and microgrids. AHP is a decision making tool based on expert judgments that has been successfully applied in design and operation for the power systems. One advantage of AHP is its ability to incorporate subjective constraints. The current application of AHP to grid connected power systems includes selection of generating units, identifying protection system vulnerability, prioritizing line maintenance, determining DG deployment and configurations, analyzing energy planning under uncertainty, locating and sizing of VAR sources, value based budgeting, choosing dispatch scenarios, forecasting loads, integrated resource planning, and determining combined active and reactive dispatch AHP has been applied to islanded microgrids for load shedding and optimizing cost. This paper concludes with proposals for expanding the use of AHP for decision-making for islanded microgrids.