Determination of solar power plant locations in Elazığ by GIS and AHP methods

The demand for energy in the world is increasing day by day and in parallel with the increasing demand, renewable energy sources come to the fore. Among the renewable energy types, the energy type with the most energy potential is solar energy. Solar Power Plants (SPP) must be installed in order to use solar energy. SPP installation cost is very high. Feasibility studies for the installation are very important due to the high costs of SPP installation. Site selection comes first among the parameters used in feasibility studies. The selection of suitable sites for the SPP requires spatial evaluation, taking into account technical, economic and environmental considerations. In this study, the Analytical Hierarchy Method (AHP) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which are one of the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods, and the appropriate location selection for solar power plants were examined. The important criteria in site selection are solar energy potential, slope, aspect, distance to power lines, distance to rivers and lakes, distance to residential areas, distance to highways, distance to railways, distance to earthquake fault line, distance to Pipelines Petrol Transport Corporation pipeline. and the average number of cloudless days per year. The important criteria were weighted according to the level of importance determined by the AHP. In line with the data obtained, suitable locations for the installation of solar power plants in the province of Elazig were determined on the map of the province of Elazig by using GIS analyzes. The accuracy of the study was demonstrated by comparing the locations of the SPPs identified in the study and the locations of the existing SPPs.