Measuring operating efficiency of solar photovoltaic power plants using epsilon-based measure model: A case study in Vietnam

Vietnam has enormous potential for solar power thanks to its favorable geographical location. In recent years, the Vietnamese government has strived to develop renewable energy. The objective of this paper is to measure the operational efficiency of solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants using data envelopment analysis (DEA) with the epsilon-based measure (EBM) model. The utilization of the EBM model is due to its advantage to integrate radial and non-radial measurements to get a more exact estimate of relative efficiency. Using the merits of the EBM model, a case study of 18 decision-making units (DMUs) in Vietnam is presented. In the proposed model, three input variables are selected, which are capital cost, installed capacity, solar irradiation, while energy production and consumer density are considered as output variables. Following that, the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method is used to assess the validity and applicability of results. The results illustrate that two methods reach common rankings, in which the priority rankings of the best performing DMUs are very similar. This shows that the applied models are robust in nature. This paper offers significant materials that serve as practical and timelier solutions for decision-makers in the operating and management strategies of the solar energy industry, also a critical guideline in many related decision-making problems for any other industries around the world.