Establishing Regional Power Sustainability and Feasibility Using Wind Farm Land-Use Optimization

Anne A. Gharaibeh, Deema A. Al-Shboul, Abdulla M. Al-Rawabdeh and Rasheed A. Jaradat
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Anne A. Gharaibeh: Department of City Planning and Design, College of Architecture and Design, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan
Deema A. Al-Shboul: Department of City Planning and Design, College of Architecture and Design, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan
Abdulla M. Al-Rawabdeh: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, Jordan
Rasheed A. Jaradat: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, Jordan

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-32

Abstract: Wind-farm planning optimization is important for decision-making concerning regional energy planning in developing countries. This process is governed by restrictions on site selection based on land suitability metric variables, wind turbine technology variables, and land-use governing criteria. This study aims to create a framework for land appropriation strategies for locating optimum sites suitable for wind farms. It is using Jordan as an Area of Interest (AOI), where the scope is to illustrate how this framework will employ wind turbine energy to positively enhance the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The methodology employs thirteen GIS thematic layers with a 250-m spatial resolution to substantiate how site-specific criteria, turbine type, and turbine hub height variables are determining factors in the optimal solution. This method involves selecting relevant factors, database construction, data layer generation and preparation, numerical ranking and weighting of each factor, and computation of the potential wind farm locations map by overlaying all the thematic GIS layers. The results showed that the establishment of wind farms would not only meet the AOI’s growing energy needs, rather exceed them to generating income for the developing nation. The results of the feasibility study will boost the national GDP by 3.4%; where, for example, one governorate alone could produce 274.3% of the total required national consumption at a turbine hub height of 50 m. The study attests to a valuable framework that can be implemented elsewhere to establish regional power sustainability and feasibility for other nations. The results show that an added land-use layer indicating the potential value of land in terms of its suitability for establishing wind farms should be considered in future sustainable regional planning studies when considering networks for smart cities, industrial cities, smart agriculture, and new agglomerations.

Keywords: Geographic Information System (GIS); wind energy; site selection; wind farm; Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP); regional planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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