Selecting a small run-of-river hydropower plan by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP): A case study of Miño-Sil river basin, Spain

Hydroelectric power is obtained by harnessing the potential energy of a mass of water flowing along a river bed to convert it first into mechanical and then into electrical energy. The system is therefore both clean and autonomous and has a high potential for development. A small hydropower plant has an installed power capacity of below 10 MW and is considered run-of-river when it diverts part of a river flow to generate its electricity. The use of multicriteria techniques in environmental decision making, including selecting between various alternatives, is important when it involves complex decisions in a number of disciplinary fields. The most widely used of these techniques is the analy…