Soft Computing Tool for Aiding the Integration of Renewable Energy Systems in Isolated Areas of Colombia

In Colombia, several entities have studied the possibilities of renewable energy development in isolated areas. These studies suggest that the decision of choosing sustainable alternatives of energy must include, resources, as well as, sustainability dimensions. Thus, it is necessary to have planning tools that offer to manage energy system simulation and optimization models. Although, these tools are not enough to make the decision, because they do not consider other factors that affect the decision of choosing a sustainable system.

To address these problems, there are systems known as soft computing, among them, the fuzzy modelling makes decision making more flexible, and reliable. Besides, the development of computer facilities for the energy system allows a drastic reduction in the models' CPU time, making room for a continuous improvement in modelling and solving strategies.

Thus, this study contributes to the developed of a soft computing tool for the integration of renewable energy systems. The tool consists of a forecasting sub-tool for assessing quantitative and qualitative data. These data are input for a fuzzy multi-objective decision model developed in GAMS, where the total present value and the CO₂ emissions of the system are minimized for obtaining alternatives of Pareto. These alternatives are used as inputs for a fuzzy multi-attribute model developed in MATLAB where the CO₂ emissions and the total present value, with social, technologic, and environmental criteria are used as inputs for choosing the most sustainable alternative in a tested case of Chocó.