Development Of An Integrated Lifecycle Decision Framework For Renewable Energy Projects In Remote Power Systems: The RELiS Concept

Muhammad Fahdillah Fahmi

doi:10.55227/ijhet.v5i3.1170

Authors

Muhammad Fahdillah Fahmi Product Control Officer, PT PLN (Persero) Electricity Maintenance Center, Bandung, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55227/ijhet.v5i3.1170

Keywords:

Renewable Energy; Lifecycle Decision Support; Asset Management; Maintainability; Supply Chain; Small Hydropower; Remote Power Systems; Design Science

Abstract

Renewable-energy technology selection in remote power systems is a lifecycle decision rather than a one-time feasibility choice. Although established asset-management governance can prescribe whole-lifecycle management, risk-informed decision-making, asset information management, and continuous improvement, project-level decisions still require a structured mechanism for translating evidence that emerges at different lifecycle stages into early technology evaluation. This study develops RELiS (Renewable Energy Lifecycle-integrated System), an integrated decision framework for renewable-energy projects in remote power systems. A design-science research approach was combined with qualitative document analysis, directed qualitative content analysis, and embedded cross-case comparison. The evidence base comprised pseudonymized strategic asset-management and generation operation-and-maintenance governance documents, together with engineering, manufacturing, implementation, failure-investigation, and cost records from an Indonesian state-owned electricity utility (the study organization). Integrated analysis of asset-management governance, feasibility requirements, and cross-lifecycle case evidence identified seven decision domains: system, resource and business-value fit; technical and engineering readiness; lifecycle and cost readiness; manufacturing and supply-chain readiness; maintainability and reliability readiness; risk, safety and resilience; and information, knowledge and lifecycle learning. The cases reveal downstream considerations—such as material conformity, drawing completeness, spare-part and supplier constraints, field-condition changes, component wear, instrumentation deficiencies, and missing technical documentation—that can be material to upstream technology evaluation. RELiS therefore complements, rather than replaces, feasibility studies and asset-management governance by providing an evidence-traceable project-level decision architecture. The current study offers a documentary demonstration of the framework; external expert validation, quantitative weighting, multi-criteria ranking, lifecycle-cost modeling, and sensitivity analysis remain future research stages.

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