Multi-criteria decision analysis for wind power plant location selection based on fuzzy AHP and geographic information systems

Abstract

The objective of this study was to find the most suitable places for wind power plants by using geographic information systems (GIS) and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP). To this purpose, a FAHP-GIS based model was developed with 17 main criteria and 81 sub-criteria relevant to wind power plants. These included a number of important criteria which have been ignored or not used to date in the wind power plant site selection studies in the literature. Weights showing the degree of importance of each criteria were calculated via the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method and integrated to the model. The geographic data for the sample study area were collected and processed via GIS, and a suitability map for wind power plants and restricted regions in the sample study area was generated by overlaying all the weighted maps. As a result of the study, restricted areas, the most suitable areas and less suitable areas for the study area were determined with the help of the suitability map created by introducing the new criteria. With this study, the proposed FAHP-GIS model, which is developed with the proposed new criteria, will provide more accurate results in the wind power plant site selection studies.