Behavioral economics-oriented energy storage investment analysis: A holistic decision support model with advanced...

Energy storage investments are essential for achieving sustainable development goals; however, their high costs and long-term returns create significant uncertainty for investors. As a result, investment decisions are shaped not only by rational evaluations but also by psychological and emotional factors. Despite this reality, behavioral economics-based variables remain largely underexplored in the energy storage literature. To address this gap, this study identifies the most critical behavioral determinants influencing the performance of energy storage investments. A novel decision support system is developed for G7 countries by integrating z-scoring, criteria impact multiplicative assessment (CIMAS), interval-valued spherical fuzzy numbers, and the ranking of alternatives through functional mapping of criterion sub-intervals into a single interval (RAFSI). The proposed framework enhances the representation of uncertainty and reduces individual biases through statistically derived expert weighting. The results indicate that risk perception and overconfidence are the most influential behavioral factors, while Germany and the United States exhibit the strongest behavioral economics-based performance in energy storage investments.