A GIS-MCDA BASED ASSESSMENT FOR SITING WIND FARMS AND ESTIMATION OF THE TECHNICAL GENERATION POTENTIAL FOR WIND POWER IN SERBIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT The share of wind power in energy consumption is continuously increasing at the national level as well as global. Many national strategies plan an increase in the installed capacity of wind farms in the future. Accordingly, this paper provides an assessment of spatial suitability for wind farm siting and estimation of wind power potential for the territory of Serbia. The unsuitable areas (75.91% of the territory) are extracted based on sociopolitical, physical, conservation, and pseudo-economic constraints (22 factors). The available land (24.09%) was evaluated applying the multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) in the geographical information system (GIS) environment using several criteria (wind speed, elevation, slope, proximity to roads and power lines, distance from urban areas, land cover). After correction with the suitability factor, the estimated technical generation power potential is 97.57 TWh, i.e. 82.93 TWh with 15% included losses. The most prospective areas for the development of wind projects are the north (Bačka region), northeast (Banat region, along the lower Danube river valley), and east of Serbia (mountains region and Negotinska Krajina region).