Multicriteria Decision Analysis of Suitable Location for Wind and Photovoltaic Power Plants on the Galápagos Islands

Geovanna Villacreses, Diego Jijón, Juan Francisco Nicolalde (), Javier Martínez-Gómez and Franz Betancourt
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Geovanna Villacreses: Instituto de Investigación Geológico y Energético (IIGE), Quito 170518, Ecuador
Diego Jijón: Instituto de Investigación Geológico y Energético (IIGE), Quito 170518, Ecuador
Juan Francisco Nicolalde: Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad Internacional SEK, Quito 170302, Ecuador
Javier Martínez-Gómez: Instituto de Investigación Geológico y Energético (IIGE), Quito 170518, Ecuador
Franz Betancourt: Instituto de Investigación Geológico y Energético (IIGE), Quito 170518, Ecuador

Energies, 2022, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-23

Abstract: The Galapagos Islands have been declared a World Heritage site due to their unique biodiversity, which makes them a living museum and a natural laboratory for humankind. However, to fulfill the energy needs of its habitants and foreign visitors, the islands have depended on fossil fuel energies that have produced levels of lead and chemical agents that are affecting the islands’ air quality, flora, and fauna. Therefore, zero-carbon initiatives have been created to protect the islands, wherein solar and wind power plants have been studied as reliable alternatives. In this way, Geographical Information Systems based on Multicriteria Decision Methods constitute a methodology that minimizes the destruction and disturbance of nature in order to assess the best location for the implementation of these alternative energy sources. Therefore, by exploring the geographical information along with the Analytical Hierarchical Processes and the Ordered Weighted Average methods, it was possible to identify the potential for solar power plants of 10 MW on each island; likewise, for wind power plants, it was found that the islands possess implementation potential that has been analyzed in the field, showing that the best location is on Baltra Island, but is not limited to it.

Keywords: wind power; solar power; galapagos; geographical information system; multicriteria decision methods; renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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