Comparison of Results from Two Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods for Solar Photovoltaic Plant Site Location: Case Study Rio De Janeiro

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) energy has become a low-cost, renewable, and environmentally friendly alternative to meet increasing energy demand. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of projects in this field in Brazil. Therefore, this study compares the results of two studies on the optimal site selection of PV in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. These studies used different methodologies to reach the conclusions and the resulting map. First, the final map of both studies was divided into a grid, and then the results of each cell were weighted for PV site selection. To compare the results using the maps, an intersection of the 10% of the grid cells with the best results from each study was formed. The results showed an 83% similarity between the different Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods. The other part of the comparison focused on the following rank similarity coefficients: Spearman Correlation Coefficient, WS Coefficient, Spearman Weighted Correlation Coefficient, and Blest Correlation Coefficient. All these coefficients had values greater than 0.9, indicating a high degree of correlation between the results of the studies. Therefore, the two studies have a high degree of similarity and a high potential for installing photovoltaic solar power plants in Rio de Janeiro, especially in its intersection zones.