Determination of sustainable fields for solar and wind power plants development using gis based multi-criteria decision analysis method

Sustainable development and conservation measures attempt to maintain greater biological diversity for sustainability of the natural environment. Conservation of the environment is vital as it ensures self-sustainability of the ecosystem which is important for survival of human being and the earth. As such many countries across the globe are adding renewable energies to their national energy mix, due to various reasons such as; energy security, socio-economic development, achieving energy access for all, combating global warming and climate change, and supporting natural environmental sustainability. Renewable energy systems do not only provide clean energy to the society but can also contribute to the promotion of environmental sustainability through good management and practices during life cycle of the systems. While renewable energy resources offer great benefits than the non-renewable energy resources such as being clean, free and unlimited, deployment of these technologies at utility-scale without proper planning have ability to pose immense negative impacts on the environment and society. Therefore, proper energy planning including site selection for the promotion of environmental sustainability and deployment of these technologies in emerging countries like Zambia is among the most challenging decision. This thesis employed an integration of Geographical Information System (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques to determine and establish the sustainable fields suitable for sustainable renewable energy harvesting in Zambia. Furthermore, an integration of system dynamics and MCDA method has been applied to predict future renewable energy mix capacity target for Zambia. The major focus was on solar and wind energy technologies for sustainable electricity generation due to maturity and deployment flexibility of technologies including the wide availability of the resource across Zambia and in Sub-Saharan Africa. The results indicate that Zambia has huge sustainable fields that can be tapped for renewable energy harvesting and inclusion in the national energy mix for sustainable energy diversification. In short, wind and solar energy resources have huge and significant potential for inclusion in the national energy mix for electricity generation and for achieving sustainable energy security and energy diversifications. Therefore, this work presents essential information for decision making, policy formulation, and planning at the strategic level for systematic and sustainable integration of solar and wind energy into the national energy mix. And also setting tangible targets for inclusion of solar and wind energy to achieve energy access for all and electrification of both rural and urban areas across the country.