A suitable site selection for sustainable bioenergy production facility by using novelty hybrid multi criteria decision making approach

Bioenergy is rapidly taking their place amongst the renewable energy sources which are gaining importance day by day. Turkey procures a large portion of its energy needs with imported fossil fuels. This brings forward problems related to energy security and it also caused an increase in the greenhouse gas emissions of the country in the last decade. However, there are no satisfactory studies or investments related to bioenergy potential and the evaluation of this potential. The research of the bioenergy potential in Turkey is of particular importance in terms of strengthening the energy policy. This study is aimed to identify the technical biodiesel and bioethanol potential of Turkey which has a large agricultural sector, on the basis of first-generation agricultural products. The innovative and unique aspect of the study that stands out is the determination of the location for the most appropriate energy production plant in the light of the identified potentials, contrary to the literature research conducted solely on the potential identification. To achieve this, a hybrid method called NHMCDMA (Novelty Hybrid Multi Criteria Decision Making Approach) was proposed. Site selection and potential evaluation were carried out using 10 different criteria, 6 of them being quantitative and 4 of them being qualitative, from 81 provinces and 7 regions. The suitable regions with the highest potential for growing sunflower and wheat plants were determined to be Tekirdağ and Konya, respectively. With the methodology proposed in this study, a decision-making process can be provided at the regional level for biodiesel/bioethanol production plant planning, also the outputs of the study can be used to develop the renewable energy resources policies.