New Insights into Decision Making Methods for Renewable Energy Investments
A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A: Sustainable Energy".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 22 June 2026 | Viewed by 2026
Special Issue Editors
2. Department of Resource Economics, Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, LT-01108 Vilnius, Lithuania
Interests: renewable energy; sustainable energy; sustainability assessment; multi-criteria decision-making; sustainability; social equity; social justice; energy transition
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: sustainable development; agricultural efficiency; international economics; resource and environmental economics; regional economics and politics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The global transition towards low-carbon energy systems has underscored the critical role of renewable energy investments. As the deployment of renewable technologies expands, decision-making processes surrounding such investments are becoming increasingly complex. These complexities arise from various interrelated technical, economic, environmental, and social factors, often characterized by uncertainty and the need for multi-criteria evaluation.
This Special Issue aims to bring together recent advances in decision-making methods applied to renewable energy investments. We welcome contributions that develop, apply, or critically assess decision-making tools and methodologies—such as multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), real options analysis, machine learning, optimization techniques, stochastic modelling, and other hybrid or novel approaches. We are particularly interested in studies that provide new theoretical insights, practical frameworks, or case-based applications that address current challenges in selecting, financing, and managing renewable energy projects.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to the following:
- Multi-criteria and multi-objective decision-making in renewable energy planning and investment;
- Risk and uncertainty modelling in investment decisions;
- Decision support systems and computational tools for renewable project evaluation;
- Integration of techno-economic, environmental, and social criteria in investment appraisal;
- Comparative analysis of decision-making methods in the context of renewables;
- Applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in energy investment decisions;
- Policy implications of decision-making frameworks for renewable energy.
Original research articles, reviews, and methodological papers are all welcome. We look forward to your contributions to this Special Issue, which aims to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue and inform both academic research and practical policy design in the field of renewable energy investment decision-making.
Dr. Indre Siksnelyte-Butkiene
Dr. Justas Štreimikis
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- renewable energy investments
- decision-making methods
- multi-criteria analysis
- risk and uncertainty
- investment appraisal
- optimization
- real options
- artificial intelligence
- sustainable energy planning
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