A risk-based multi-criteria spatial decision analysis for solar power plant site selection in different climates: A case study in Iran

Saman Nadizadeh Shorabeh, Mohammad Karimi Firozjaei, Omid Nematollahi, Hamzeh Karimi Firozjaei and Mohammadreza Jelokhani-Niaraki

Renewable Energy, 2019, vol. 143, issue C, 958-973

Abstract: Identifying potential locations for installation of solar power plants is a critical step in utilizing sustainable energy resources. In this study, a GIS-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (GIS-MCDA) technique is used to generate maps that represent potential areas for solar power plants in four provinces with different climate conditions in Iran. The concept of risk is included in the GIS-MCDA process using the Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) model. The OWA model can provide various risk-taking (optimistic) and risk-aversion (pessimistic) scenarios to determine the suitable power plant areas. The results of this study indicate that provinces located in an arid climate such as Yazd contain a more suitable area for the solar power plants compared to wet climate provinces (e.g., Mazandaran). The sensitivity analysis of results show that the criterion “fault” has the minimum effect while the criteria “slope” and “road network” have the maximum effects on the area of the highly desirable class.

Keywords: Solar power plants; Climate condition; Risk assessment; GIS; MCDA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148119307232
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:143:y:2019:i:c:p:958-973

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.05.063

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().