Citation: Cao, J.; He, B.; Qu, N.; Zhang, J.; Liu, C.; Liu, Y.; Chen, C.-L. Benefits Evaluation Method of an Integrated Energy System Based on a Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method. Symmetry 2023, 15, 84. https://doi.org/10.3390/ sym15010084 Academic Editor: José Carlos R. Alcantud Received: 17 November 2022 Revised: 17 December 2022 Accepted: 24 December 2022 Published: 28 December 2022 Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). symmetry S S Article Benefits Evaluation Method of an Integrated Energy System Based on a Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method Jie Cao 1 , Bowen He 2 , Nan Qu 3 , Jiaxin Zhang 4 , Chaoqiang Liu 1 , Yaowei Liu 5 and Chin-Ling Chen 6,7, * 1 School of Computer Science, Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin 132012, China 2 POWERCHINA Hebei Electric Power Engineering Co., Ltd., Shijiazhuang 050000, China 3 Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd. Nanjing Power Supply Company, Nanjing 210000, China 4 Information Office, Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin 132012, China 5 State Grid Jilin Electric Power Co., Ltd., Changchun 130000, China 6 School of Information Engineering, Chuang Chun Sci-Tech University, Changchun 130000, China 7 Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung 41349, Taiwan * Correspondence: clc@mail.cyut.edu.tw Abstract: Building an integrated energy system (IES) is an excellent solution to environmental pollution and energy consumption currently. However, there are usually various IES configurations with different performances, and it is usually difficult for the decision-makers to select the most sustainable IES solution among multiple choices. In this paper, we attempt to design an evaluation method that considers the renewable energy and energy system model for evaluating the benefit of an IES. Firstly, this paper constructs an evaluation index system including four dimensions of technology, economy, environment, and society, based on the physical architecture of IES and its benefit influencing factors. It focuses on multiple energy sources or systems, and satisfies the overall evaluation of IES, resulting in accurate benefit evaluation results. Secondly, the subjective weight is determined by combining the triangular fuzzy number (TFN) and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The objective weight is determined by the entropy method. The combined weight is obtained by combining the subjective and objective weights, which solves the problem of the weight calculation error caused by the mutual influence between the indexes. Finally, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is used to conduct the benefit evaluation of the IES, which solves the problem that the qualitative index cannot be calculated. This paper takes an IES project in a city in northern China as a case study. Through sensitivity analysis and comparative analysis, the reliability and feasibility of the evaluation results and proposed method are verified. The analysis results show that the model evaluation results are intuitive and consistent with reality, and the data information utilization rate is high. Keywords: integrated energy system; benefit evaluation; index system; index weighting; fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method 1. Introduction Energy is the foundation of social development and human survival, so solving the sustainability of the energy supply is the primary issue of current development. Fossil energy releases greenhouse gases to the environment during combustion. In recent years, the demand for energy in various countries has gradually increased. Huge energy con- sumption has caused many problems related to developmental delay and environmental damage, especially in economically backward countries. Therefore, countries began to intensify research on renewable energy and energy cascade utilization technology, and to adjust energy structures to respond to the growing shortage of energy [1,2]. In this context, the concept of IES came into being and was recognized by all countries in the world [3–5]. Indeed, IES is an energy system with unified planning and scheduling Symmetry 2023, 15, 84. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym15010084 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/symmetry