Using the Optimization Algorithm to Evaluate the Energetic Industry: A Case Study in Thailand
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The paper presents an interesting analysis on Thailand's energetic sector. Grey prediction and DEA models are successfully utilized to measure the efficiency of 12 representative companies in Thailand's energetic sector. The results are promising, the empyrical analysis is correct, and the problem timely. However, there are several major flaws that prevents this paper to be accepted:
English should be proof-read, sometimes it is barely understandable, e.g: "which consumes a large scale of energy including oil, electricity", "from energy exports to energy importers", "For coal, natural gas, oil, and electricity, energy is the main source of growth for end-users and rising consumption, which has become a challenge for the region.", "In addition, investments are being made to introduce some cultural difficulties, because these companies must cooperate or cooperate with partners from different backgrounds, which make them more difficult", "some of them were not been listed on the stock markets", "The final selected companies took for this research, the type of Industry or business they are involved in and their Stock exchange Index. These following order of 12 companies", "In his paper, he stated that Grey System theory has been successfully applied in many fields. Grey system theory. Forecast as the explanation of something that has not yet been previously observed or is unknown.", "Those above studies with the mentioning the measurement of firm performance and applications with DEA vary in terms of models employed and also differ in the selection of the input and output variables.", "The table indicates that it seems to be common among those above studies is that generally employees"
One paragraph is literally repeated: "On the other hand, Thailand's power sector has no similar model with other countries in the region. They are different in the managing board, which is managed by the Ministry of Energy and managed by the National Energy Policy Council (NEPC). One thing, the electricity sector in Thailand is mainly passed down from generation to generation – EGAT. Later, part of the collective energy was provided to EGAT direct customers, and the Energy Authority (MEA) and other parts of the Energy Agency (PEA). In addition, there are generator sets called VSPPs that do not trade with EGAT but sell electricity directly to MEA and PEA. Between generation and distribution, EGAT also acts as a transmission tool. Finally, energy will reach the end user through the MEA and PEA networks. Thanks to an agreement with EGAT, the Thai energy industry is considered one of the safest private companies in Thailand. They purchase electricity through private operators under the PPA to ensure the electricity supply in their industry."
The novelty and contributions of the paper should be provided at the end of the introduction section (bullets)
In Literature related to Grey Systems theory, authors should explain why Grey system theory is chosen instead other forecasting techniques. In addition, related work refering to the application of this model and results in related areas should be provided. Table 1 is bad formatted.
In DMUs collection Section, the introduction to Thailand's environment (lines 162-208) is too deep and not necessary for the explanation of DMUs. Move to Introduction or new section?
Usually one refer to ourselves as "The authors", not Researchers (from line 8, page 8, on). In line 12 "indicate" -> "consider"
"It is said that DEA is a sensitive tool." -> not scientific.
A brief explanation on why this particular DEA model is used should be beneficial.
Section Model: Forecasting process should be reformed, some of the concepts should be moved to the Literature related to Grey Systems theory section, and some concepts are repeated.
Future work should be provided. E.g: Study of internal parameters to provide corrective measures.
Author Response
The authors appreciate your careful evaluation of our study and hope that the readability and quality of the paper are increased. The modification is remarked in red words in this revision. We hope that this revision version meets with your approval.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The work proposed seems quite interesting. Authors offered a good introduction; however the literature review is poor since it only refers to the creators of DEA and GST, without any examples of its application, and no comments about it achievements are provided. The methodology chapter is quite detailed, and offers good inputs about the work.
My general comment is that I could not clearly understand the usefulness of the proposed work.
Author Response
The authors appreciate your careful evaluation of our study and hope that the readability and quality of the paper are increased. The modification is remarked in red words in this revision. We hope that this revision version meets with your approval.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The paper is undoubtedly in a better shape now. However, I think that some flaws need to be corrected before publication:
This paragraph is repeated Three times:
On the other hand, Thailand’s power sector has no similar model in comparison with those of
69 other countries in the region. They are different in management boards, which are managed by the
70 Ministry of Energy and National Energy Policy Council (NEPC). One thing, the electricity sector in
71 Thailand is mainly passed down from generation to generation
This one twice:
On the other hand, Thailand’s power sector has no similar model to those of other countries in
the region. The power sector in Thailand is a subsector managed by the Ministry of Energy and the National Energy Policy Council (NEPC). The energy sector in Thailand is mainly passed down from
generation to generation.
Subsequently, some collective energy is provided to EGAT’s direct customers, while other
energy regulators (MEAs) and provincial power supply managers (PEA). In addition, there is a generator called the very small generator (VSPP), which does not work with EGAT but sells electricity directly to the MEA and PEA. Between power generation and distribution, EGAT also acts as a transmission utility. Finally, energy will reach end-users through MEA and PEA networks.Thanks to the agreement with EGAT, Thailand’s energy industry is considered one of the most secured private companies in Thailand. It ensures its supply in the industry by purchasing energy
from private operators under the PPA.
The title:
Data using for Performance Analysis -> Data used for Performance Analysis
I suggest changing the Conclusions title to Conclusions and Future work and extending the Future work.
Keep in mind that grey system should be capitalized (Grey system/s).
DEA has been successfully applied to a host of different types of entities engaged
in a wide variety of industry sector. Therefore, in this study, DEA-MI would be used to
evaluating the business performance of the DMUs. CHANGE TO -> DEA has been successfully applied to various types of entities in a wide range of industries, such as manufacturing, environmental and operations management, and data-center operation (reference to: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/8/2053 ). In this work, we employ DEA-MI to
evaluate the business performance of a set of DMUs which represent companies in the energetic industry.
DEA is tool for the estimation of production correspondences. Therefore, before using it, thoroughly choosing inputs and outputs is necessary because the selection of input and output variables will influence the correction of final efficiency CHANGE TO -> A deep analysis on the selection of input and output parameters is needed for the correct utilization of DEA, since such parameters and the correlation between them determine the correctness of the final efficiency results.
Author Response
The authors appreciate your careful evaluation of our study and hope that the readability and quality of the paper are increased. The modification is remarked in red words in this revision. We hope that this revision version meets with your approval.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
