Spatial Multi-Criteria Land Suitability Analysis for Community-Scale Biomass Power Plant Site Selection

Athipthep Boonman, Suneerat Fukuda () and Agapol Junpen
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Athipthep Boonman: The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
Suneerat Fukuda: The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
Agapol Junpen: The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 17, 1-22

Abstract: Community-scale biomass power plants (CSBPPs) offer a decentralized approach for electricity generation by utilizing locally available biomass while delivering socioeconomic benefits. Site selection plays a critical role in the success of CSBPPs and requires the consideration of diverse spatial and non-spatial factors. This study presents a spatial decision-support tool for identifying suitable CSBPP sites in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), which comprises the Chachoengsao, Chonburi, and Rayong provinces. A geoprocessing workflow integrating Geographic Information Systems (GISs), Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM), and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was developed using ModelBuilder tools in ArcGIS Pro (version 3.0.2). Thirteen sub-criteria related to geographical, infrastructural, and socioeconomic–cultural dimensions, along with exclusion zones, were evaluated by 15 experts from diverse stakeholder groups. Biomass availability from five major economic crops was combined with other spatial data layers, incorporating expert-assigned weights and suitability scores. The findings indicated a remaining biomass energy potential was 34,156 TJ, with sugarcane residues contributing over 80%. Approximately 20% of the EEC area (about 0.262 million hectares) was classified as highly suitable for CSBPP development, revealing several viable site options. The proposed model offers a flexible and replicable framework for regional biomass planning and can be adapted to other locations by adjusting the criteria and integrating optimization techniques.

Keywords: community-scale biomass power plant; decentralized energy system; GIS-MCDM-AHP-integrated model; ModelBuilder tool; geospatial modeling platform (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: 2025
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