GIS-based MCDM Approach for Wind Farm Site Selection - A Case Study

Abstract

The objective of this study is the development and implementation of a geographic information system (GIS)-based methodology to determine suitable sites for wind farms by using multicriteria decision making (MCDM) techniques. Many eligibility criteria are considered in this approach, such as GIS analysis is performed in combination with MCDM techniques, both for the criteria weighting process (using the analytical hierarchical process) and for the standardization/classification of the criteria values into a common scale, in order to finally apply the weighted linear combination technique. The MCDM output is a suitability map, which provides the spatial distribution of the final score, showing zones ranging from non-suitable locations to highly suitable areas after categorizing them into five classes. Furthermore, three scenarios regarding the criteria selection and their hierarchy are investigated: technical, techno-economic, and techno-economic-environmental. For each of these scenarios, different criteria are assigned different levels of importance, and the corresponding results are compared and evaluated. The proposed approach is presented through a case study for the regional unit of Chania (Crete Island, Aegean Sea, Greece), for which the necessary geospatial data were collected, created, and processed. This analysis highlights the capabilities of GIS in performing site selection for onshore wind farms while considering the regulations, legislations, and other constraints.