Mapping of Suitable Sites for Concentrated Solar Power Plants in the Philippines Using Geographic Information System and Analytic Hierarchy Process

Ana Therese A. Levosada, Renz Paolo T. Ogena (), Jan Ray V. Santos and Louis Angelo M. Danao
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Ana Therese A. Levosada: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines
Renz Paolo T. Ogena: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines
Jan Ray V. Santos: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines
Louis Angelo M. Danao: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-19

Abstract: Solar energy is a renewable source of energy harnessed from the sun. Concentrated solar power (CSP) plants harness this energy by focusing sunlight on a limited area to heat a working fluid, which is used to generate steam and power a thermodynamic cycle that produces electricity. There are currently no CSP plants in the Philippines, and this study aimed to locate the most suitable sites for this type of power plant. The first step was to mask out areas totally unsuitable as plant sites; we identified five exclusion factors for this: protected areas, slope, direct normal irradiance (DNI), water bodies, and land cover type. A scoring gradient was then applied to the remaining suitable areas according to seven ranking factors: DNI, slope, typhoon frequency, capacity of the nearest grid line, distance to the nearest grid line, distance to the nearest road, and distance to the nearest water body. Next, to reflect the actual degrees of influence of the factors to site suitability, we determined their relative numeric weights using analytic hierarchy process, with the weights derived from inputs from interviews with academic and industry experts. Finally, using ArcGIS Pro, we used a weighted sum of the ranking scores to produce a suitability map covering the entire Philippines. Suitable sites in the following provinces were found: Ilocos Sur, Pampanga, Mindoro, Masbate, and Maguindanao. These areas have a total area of 27.9 km 2 and a projected total power output of 733 MW.

Keywords: geographic information system; concentrated solar power; site suitability; analytic hierarchy process; Philippines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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