International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE) Vol. 12, No. 2, April 2022, pp. 1965~1972 ISSN: 2088-8708, DOI: 10.11591/ijece.v12i2.pp1965-1972  1965 Journal homepage: http://ijece.iaescore.com An integrated multiple layer perceptron-genetic algorithm decision support system for photovoltaic power plant site selection Rajkumari Malemnganbi, Benjamin A. Shimray Department of Electrical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Manipur, Manipur, India Article Info ABSTRACT Article history: Received Mar 23, 2021 Revised Aug 6, 2021 Accepted Sep 1, 2021 There is a need for non-renewable energy sources in generation of power for almost every domestic and commercial purposes. This source of energy helps in the development of a country. Because of the increasing usage of the fossil fuels and depletion of these resources, our focus has been shifted towards the renewable sources of energy like solar, water and wind. Therefore, in the present scenario, the usage of renewable sources has been increasing rapidly. Selection of a solar power plant (SPP) requires environmental factor, local terrain, and local weather issues. Thus, a large amount of investment is required for installation. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) is a method that identifies one in choosing the best sites among the other proposed options. This paper gives a detailed study of optimal ranking of SPP site using analytical hierarchy process (AHP), multiple layer perceptron (MLP) neural network trained with back propagation (BP) algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA). Three SPP sites of India were considered and various important criteria like local weather, geographical location, and environmental factors are included in our study as SPP site selection is a multi-criteria problem. A precise comparison of these three methods is listed in this paper. Keywords: Analytical hierarchy process Back propagation Multi-criteria decision making Multiple layer perceptron Site selection Solar power plant This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license. Corresponding Author: Rajkumari Malemnganbi Department of Electrical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Manipur Langol Rd, Lamphelpat, Imphal, Manipur 795004, India Email: rkmalemdevi@gmail.com 1. INTRODUCTION Energy is an essential part in our daily life. Human population is estimated to rise from 6.9 billion to 13.1 billion by the end of this century [1]. As a result, the consumption of energy is increase with the increase in population. Michael [2] reported that the demand in global energy is likely to be doubled in the 21st century. Thus, energy needs have become a very important international and national agenda. Fossil fuels are formed naturally and take a long time to form and their price increases as its reserves decreases. The burning of fossil fuels also severely degrades the environment; on the contrary, renewable energy sources are unlimited as they are replenished constantly in nature. To compensate for the ever-growing demands, most of the countries have started using renewable energy sources for generation of power. Such sources of energy depend on social factor and environmental issues. Solar power plant (SPP) is a popular renewable source and are widely used across the globe. Investors have shown immense interest in solar power project because of its availability, pollution free environment, low maintenance and operating cost. This have enhance the solar power project to progress rapidly [3].