Abstract
In the last few years, the world has been turning to the exploitation of renewable energy sources due to increased awareness of environmental protection and increased consumption of fossil fuels. In this research, by applying geographic information systems and integrating them with multi-criteria decision making methods, an area suitable for the construction and exploitation of renewable energy sources is determined. The research uses not only climate, spatial, environmental, and geomorphological parameters but also socioeconomic parameters, population, unemployment, and number of tourist nights as well as electricity consumption. By applying spatial analysis, rasters of all parameters were created using GRASS GIS software. Using the analytic hierarchy process, the calculated rasters are assigned with weight coefficients, and the sum of all those rasters gives the final raster of optimal locations for the construction of solar power plants in Croatia. To test the accuracy of the obtained results, sensitivity analysis was performed using different weight coefficients of the parameters. From the sensitivity analysis results, as well as a histogram and statistical indicators of the three rasters, it is apparent that raster F1 gives the best results. The most decisive parameters in determining the optimal solar plant locations that result from this research are GHI, land cover, and distance to the electricity network.
Highlights
In recent years, due to increased consumption of fossil fuels, high CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, and environmentally irreversible damage to the environment, the world is increasingly turning to renewable, environmentally-friendly sources of energy
Using the analytic hierarchy process, the calculated rasters are assigned with weight coefficients, and the sum of all those rasters gives the final raster of optimal locations for the construction of solar power plants in Croatia
Since the study area is the entire territory of the Republic of Croatia, and it is not possible to discern the details on the map, an example subset in the Zadar County area was introduced
Summary
Due to increased consumption of fossil fuels, high CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, and environmentally irreversible damage to the environment, the world is increasingly turning to renewable, environmentally-friendly sources of energy. Renewable energy sources have been used for many years, and their growth is expected in the coming years. Given the initiative and the strategy signed by the 200 states, including Croatia, under the Paris Agreement [1], there is a need to increase the use of renewable energy sources. The aim of exploiting renewable energy sources is to protect the environment, but it leads to an increase in local and regional development as well as an increase in the employment of the population. In addition to reducing environmental pollution, reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by the use of fossil fuels improves the quality of life and increases the safety of the population
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