Root barriers management in development of renewable energy resources in Iran: An interpretative structural modeling approach

Highlights: • Identifying barriers and solutions to improve the use of renewable energy in Iran. • Using cause and effect relationships to consider effects between barriers. • Partitioning root barriers by interpretative structural modeling. • Using mathematical and intelligent methods to extract knowledge from barriers. • Prioritizing improvement solutions to manage and implement policies. -- Abstract: Main advantages of renewable energies in economic development and environmental protection have resulted in an increase in the importance of using these energies in different countries. Therefore, to develop such technologies, it is essential to identify all the barriers hindering the development of renewable energy resources and propose scientific and practical solutions to alleviate them. In this study, the effort is to identify the root barriers in the development of wind and solar (renewable) energy resources in energy production sectors of Iran, considering the cause and effect relationships between the existing barriers. Not only barriers directly influence the non-development of renewable energy resources, but also they interact. It has been done by considering the literature review, experts' opinions, and interpretive structural modeling. Then, solutions are proposed to improve the current situation, and executive prioritization is obtained for a faster achievement of the ideal situation using an integrated approach based on the fuzzy cognitive map and slack-based data envelopment analysis. Finally, the effect of each improvement solution on the system's objectives is examined with regard to cause and effect relationships between the barriers.