Efficiency assessment of hydroelectric power plants in Canada: A multi criteria decision making approach

Hydropower plays a major role in the Canadian electricity generation industry. Few attempts have been made, however, to assess the efficiency of hydropower generation in Canada. This paper analyzes the overall efficiency of hydropower generation in Canada from comprehensive viewpoints of electricity generating capability, its profitability, as well as environmental benefits and social responsibility using the TOPSIS (the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method. The factors that influence the efficiency of the hydropower generation are also presented to help to the sustainable hydropower production in Canada. The most important results of this study concern (1) the pivotal roles of energy saving and of the social responsibility in the overall efficiency of hydropower corporates and (2) the lower hydropower generation efficiency of some of the most important economic regions in Canada. Other results reveal that the overall efficiency of hydropower generation in Canada experienced an improvement in 2012, following a downtrend from 2005 to 2011. Amidst these influencing factors, energy saving and social responsibility are key factors in the overall efficiency scores while management (defined herein by the number of employees and hydropower stations of a corporation) has only a slightly negative impact on the overall efficiency score. •We model the overall hydropower efficiency from the comprehensive viewpoints.•The overall hydropower efficiency in Canada experienced a slight improvement in 2012, following a downtrend from 2005 to 2011.•The paper outlines the pivotal roles of energy saving and social responsibility in overall efficiency of hydropower corporations.•The lower hydropower efficiency occurs in some of the most important economic regions of Canada.•Hydropower efficiency improvement in Canada is driven by the technical efficiency, management factors and energy saving plans.