Floating utility-scale photovoltaic site selection in Indonesia: a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis approach

This study proposes a robust Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework to identify and rank suitable sites for floating photovoltaic (FPV) deployment across 92 water bodies in Indonesia. The evaluation incorporates eight spatial and techno-economic criteria: Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Relative Coefficient of Variation (RCoV), distance to road and grid infrastructure, suitable surface area, earthquake hazard index, tariff multiplier, and population density. To strengthen methodological rigor, three weighting schemes (Entropy, CRITIC, and Equal Weight) are combined with three MCDA techniques: the Weighted Sum Model (WSM), the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), and Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation II (PROMETHEE II). Across all methods, CRITIC and Equal weighting consistently produce stable and mutually aligned rankings, whereas Entropy weighting introduces the largest deviations. This cross-method agreement confirms that the instability originates from the weighting scheme itself rather than from the choice of MCDA ranking algorithm. These findings underscore the importance of transparent weighting and sensitivity analysis in MCDA and offer a flexible framework to support FPV site selection within broader renewable energy planning efforts.