Development and application of HELDA: a multi-criteria decision analysis software tailored for sustainable energy system transitions

Achieving sustainable energy system transitions necessitates the development of innovative technologies and systems, and their integration into complex and rapidly changing societal frameworks. In such a dynamic context, it is important to have a tool that accelerates decision-making processes, including stakeholder preferences, while maintaining scientific rigor, transparency and inclusiveness. To achieve this objective, sustainability assessments (SA) with multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods have been widely used. Despite the development of MCDA software tools to facilitate the implementation of MCDA methods, challenges often arise concerning the selection of a proper MCDA method and the integration of stakeholders, which often requires significant resources. This research presents HELDA, the Helmholtz Decision Analysis Tool developed following the concepts of MCDA for SA including the strong sustainability concept and stakeholders’ integration.
To our knowledge, HELDA is the only free MCDA software that integrates binary relations methods (ELECTRE III and PROMETHEE I and II) with online surveys for weights elicitation of stakeholder groups (synchronous and asynchronous). ... mehrThe HELDA software is the result of extending the functionality of an existing MCDA software based on a previous study on the capabilities of MCDA software to conduct SA. HELDA development process was based on theories from agile software development. The functionality of HELDA is illustrated in a case study on the prospective SA of individual motorized mobility options using ELECTRE III method. The preferences of 13 researchers were elicited as individuals and in group settings to reach consensus on criteria weights.