Abstract:
Since the start of the new millennium, Renewable Energy Technology has been considered harmless, clean and free. On the other hand, Non-Renewable Energy Sources are perceived as the only hostile technology to the environment without focusing on the detrimental effect of Renewable Energy Sources. It is, therefore, important to evaluate the social impacts of solar and wind technologies and decide on the net social benefit before utilization. This will ensure sustainable utilization while maintaining the quality and availability of natural resources for current and future generations. For a suitable decision from the proposed tool, there is need to interrelate resource cost and social effects of solar and wind technology to the environmental and economic impacts. This will improve the judgment on whether or not to deploy the technology depending on the net social benefit to the community. The tool is developed using Modified PowerSizing model and simulated based on the proposed Improved Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm on MATLAB environment. The proposed results for this research hope to demonstrate the social impacts of solar and wind technologies and effectively make the decision on the viability of deploying the technology as per the Environmental Impact Assessment regulations provided by UNEP in the 2018 - 2021 medium term strategy. In conclusion, the proposed Social Impact on Investment Decision Making Tool (SIIDMT) will be useful in providing prior advice to the technical team on whether or not the implementation of the solar and/or wind should be carried out. A valid SIIDMT should be more than or equal to 50 percent.
