The Evaluation of Khorasan Razavi Range for the construction of wind power plants through multi-criteria decision making in GIS environment

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine the suitable location of wind power plants in Khorasan Razavi province according to the climate criteria and conditions (wind speed, prevailing wind speed, pressure and temperature), geography (elevation, slope), socioeconomic factors (distance, distance from the cities and distance from the villages), environmental factors (distance from protected areas, land use and distance from the river) and geology (distance from faults). The process has been carried out in the geographical information system environment using the analytical hierarchical process. Based on the role and effect of these factors, a map of the Effective Factors was prepared in ArcGIS10.6 environments. The weight of the criteria was determined by the Analytical Hierarchy Process Analysis (AHP) method in the EC2000 software environment. The ArcGIS10.6 software was used for spatial modelling, analysis and overlaying the different layers. The final map of suitable wind power plants was carried out in four different classes (very suitable, suitable, somewhat suitable and unsuitable). The results showed that 10.37% (1239871 ha) of the area was identified as very suitable for construction, including areas in the northwest of the province (around Sabzevar) and relatively slightly in the southeast (around Taibad) and eastern area (around Sarakhs). The results also showed that the GIS, as a decision support system in building a power plant, can be used to prepare data and prioritize experts’ models and opinions regarding various factors in choosing the appropriate location for an effective wind power plant.