This paper presents the application of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) for evaluating what technologies using renewable energy sources (RES) for electricity production have the chance to develop in Poland under the current socio-economic conditions. First, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was used to determine the weights of the optimization criteria. Five main criteria and 30 sub-criteria were identified. Next, the authors modified numerical taxonomy (NT) to rank eight RES technologies (such as onshore and offshore wind farms, photovoltaics, or biogas plants). The results show that offshore wind farms are the RES technology with the greatest development opportunities in Poland. The following three technologies: distributed photovoltaic energy, biogas plants, and biomass power plants, respectively, received a similar rating in the ranking. Hydropower and geothermal were the lowest-ranked technologies. The ranking, which is the result of multi-criteria analysis, in several respects, is significantly different from the directions of activities indicated in the state energy policy.

This paper presents the development and the application of a hybrid multi-criteria method, the combination of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and numerical taxonomy (NT), to support the decision making on the location of distributed renewable energy sources meeting various types of assessment criteria. Finding criteria weights, using the AHP method, eliminates the disadvantage of NT—which, in current form, is defined by its extreme values. The NT method is less mathematically complicated than the AHP method, and thus, less time-consuming. The combination of methods was used to investigate: (1) Which location among these analyzed has the best chance of implementation considering the author’s set of criteria to describe the proposed locations in detail; and (2) which detailed criterion has the greatest impact on achieving the main goal. The proposed universal set of criteria consists of five main criteria (technical, economic, social, environmental, and legal), under which twenty-eight detailed criteria are listed. The hybrid multi-criteria methodology was used to rank the proposed set of four wind farm locations in terms of chances for investment implementation in the shortest possible time. The ranking of the location obtained with this method should be treated as an element supporting the decision-maker. The location for wind power plant with installed capacity 40 MW was found to be the most suitable, and the results showed that the main contributing factors are carbon avoidance rate and the impact of the investment on environmentally protected areas.

Combined heat and power (CHP), that is production of electricity and useful heat in a single thermodynamic process, is a way of primary energy saving and emission reduction. Therefore, promotion of the electricity from high-efficiency cogeneration (CHP-E) was encouraged in the European Union. However, CHP-E promotion mechanisms proved low effectiveness in certain countries, like Poland, where the prices of certificates of origin were kept at relatively low levels. This paper attempts to analyse the effect of CHP-E support system on the market allocation of different cogeneration technologies. MARKAL model of Polish power system was applied to calculate the installed capacity and annual electricity production from cogeneration plants in time perspective to 2030. The impact of buy-out fee and resulting shadow prices of certificates on the market share of CHP-E and the technology choice was studied. The convergence of promotion mechanisms for CHP-E and electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E) was also investigated.

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