Land suitability assessment for wind power plant site selection using ANP-DEMATEL in a GIS environment: case study of Ardabil province, Iran

Abstract

Wind energy is a renewable energy resource that has increased in usage in most countries. Site selection for the establishment of large wind turbines, called wind farms, like any other engineering project, requires basic information and careful planning. This study assessed the possibility of establishing wind farms in Ardabil province in northwestern Iran by using a combination of analytic network process (ANP) and decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) methods in a geographical information system (GIS) environment. DEMATEL was used to determine the criteria relationships. The weights of the criteria were determined using ANP and the overlaying process was done on GIS. Using 13 information layers in three main criteria including environmental, technical and economical, the land suitability map was produced and reclassified into 5 equally scored divisions from least suitable to most suitable areas. The results showed that about 6.68% of the area of Ardabil province is most suitable for establishment of wind turbines. Sensitivity analysis shows that significant portions of these most suitable zones coincide with suitable divisions of the input layers. The efficiency and accuracy of the hybrid model (ANP-DEMATEL) was evaluated and the results were compared to the ANP model. The sensitivity analysis, map classification, and factor weights for the two methods showed satisfactory results for the ANP-DEMATEL model in wind power plant site selection.

Participatory flood vulnerability assessment: a multi-criteria approach

“…For example, the elderly can either be highly vulnerable or less vulnerable depending on their income. To overcome this problem, we used the ANP method, which has a network structure with bilateral relationships, enabling inner and outer dependences between criteria to be considered (Azizi et al, 2014).…”

The Selection of Wind Power Project Location in the Southeastern Corridor of Pakistan: A Factor Analysis, AHP, and Fuzzy-TOPSIS Application

“…Latinopoulos and Kechagia [26] used GIS-based, multi-criteria assessment for wind project location selection in Greece; they considered economic, technological, social, and environmental factors as criteria with substantial numbers of sub-criteria. Azizi et al [27] used the environmental, technical, and economic factors in wind power plant site selection. Al-Yahyai et al [28] have also considered various dimensions to evaluate the suitability of land for wind projects site selection in Oman, including the distance to roads, slope, historical locations, nature, wind power, and energy demand.…”

“…Development cost [39,40] Public health and community impact [41] Wind data availability [27,42] Government policies [43] Effect on economic development of nearby areas [31] On-grid accessibility [29][30][31] Wildlife and habitat impact [42] Climate conditions [29] Land acquisition [39,40] Distance from residential areas [27,30,31] Road availability [28][29][30][31] Area of flatland and without forest cover [27,29] Skilled manpower availability [39,40] Relocation and rehabilitation [42] Effect on employment and agriculture [44] Social acceptance [43] In summary, the main criteria considered in this study (i.e., economic, technical, environmental, political, and social factors) are vital aspects of wind power plant development in Pakistan.…”

Optimal Site Selection of Wind-Solar Complementary Power Generation Project for a Large-Scale Plug-In Charging Station

“…In this study, the review of existing literature (25 current authoritative studies [1][2][3][4][5]29,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56]) was first carried out. From the analysis of the literature, it can be observed that the current indicators for wind and solar power generation sites can be mainly divided into seven aspects: natural resources, economic factors, technical factors, traffic conditions, geographical factors, social factors and environmental factors.…”