Multicriteria decision analysis: A case integrating technical, economical and environmental criteria at Hydro-Quebec

The use of a multicriteria decision aid is essentially characterized by (1) an approach that explicitly uses several points of view or criteria (2) a form of communication that allows structured interactions between decision-markers and analysts and (3) a methodology that consists of generating potential actions, formulating criteria and creating a performance table that utilizes the information by using a multicriteria ranking procedure. As part of an exploratory study at Hydro-Québec, a multicriteria decision aid has been used to analyze the ranking of scenarios for hydroelectric facilities. The study involved three groups of participants: the committee of decision-makers that sets priorities and adopts a position; the experts, who respond to requests to evaluate the scenarios according to each criterion, and a task force that applies a multicriteria aid to decision-making, coordinating the meetings with the committee of decision-makers and the consultations with the experts. The presentation will illustrate how a multicriteria approach can help take into account technical, economic and environmental considerations and highlight the decisive issues. The interactions and discussions spread over time can help clarify and generalize understanding of the evaluation criteria used in the ranking procedure.