Abstract: Solar electricity from photovoltaic (PV) panel is the important source of renewable energy and it is being popular all over the world due to enhancement of solar PV technology. There are sorts of PV panels having individually different solar performance features manufactured by different manufactures in different countries. Per watt cost, efficiency, life time etc are different for different types of PV panels. Due to difference in efficiencies, different panels require different amount of land usage for generation of same amount of electricity. Per unit electricity (kWh) generation cost is also different for different types of panels. It is an important concern to reduce land usage and per unit electricity cost. This paper deals with optimal selection of PV panel for grid tie PV power plant using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) algorithm. The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is adopted as MCDA tool for optimal selection of PV panel considering land usage and per kWh generation cost criteria. Several investigations are performed for different weighing of the criteria. This study could be assumed as a powerful road map for decision makers, analysts and policy makers in context of Bangladesh.

Keywords: Optimal selection, Grid tie power plant, solar PV electricity, Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS).