Modelling site selection process for wind power plants through free and open source gis

Abstract

In our constantly evolving and changing world with the impact created by developments, energy needs have become a very important component in the policies of both states and private companies. With the increase in energy needs, interest in sustainable resources has increased, and energy production targets from renewable energy sources have grown in development plans and investment programs. In addition to being sustainable, renewable energy sources have become more attractive with their low cost in the long term. Wind energy is economically efficient in the long term, although the installation cost is quite high among these resources. It is desirable that the efficiency obtained from the wind power plant is at the maximum level, but the environmental impact should be kept at a minimum while keeping the efficiency at the maximum level. Therefore, the evaluation of the region where the Wind Power Plant (WPP) will be installed should be made in accordance with international standards, national regulations and environmental conditions. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used as tools for multi-criteria decision making problems such as site selection and suitability analysis. With the increasing need for development and the mass of users, the orientation towards free and open source software shows its influence on GIS as well as in many other fields. The value offered by free and open source software is due to the fact that the possibilities offered can be improved, and the developed features can be shared freely with other users. In this context, QGIS which is a free and open source GIS software was used in the study and for the WPP suitability analysis, the first model in which the areas where the WPP cannot be established can be determined first, and then the second suitability model using the weights determined by the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been applied. The two models proposed using the free and open source GIS software aimed to automate the process for suitability analysis in study area which is Izmir. First of all, parameters are determined according to national and international standards, literature review and national legal procedures to be considered in order to install WPP, and the specified parameters are classified according to models. The parameters are subjected to two main classifications depending on the purpose of the models. The first exclusion parameters are classified as the since it will serve the purpose of determining the areas where WPP cannot be established. The output map classification obtained with the exclusion model is made with boolean values of 0 and 1 representing the areas where RES can be established and cannot be established, and is included as an input to the suitability model, which is the second model. Two different scenarios are implemented with the first model. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report evaluates the impact of WPP on the environment, it is decided by the relevant institutions whether this assessment is necessary depending on the variables such as the capacity and size of the project, in addition to the fact that such large structures have a great benefit in providing energy by using renewable energy sources, if it is positioned without assessing the impact on the environment, it may harm the nature and society. Considering the advantages and disadvantages, some disadvantages can be minimized by environmentally sensitive studies, so the areas where WPP cannot be established when EIA is not required and areas where WPP cannot be established in situations where EIA is not required vary and the output occurs in two different scenarios. In the suitability model, the aim is to make suitability analysis using the evaluation parameters within the areas where WPP can be established