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2 DECISION CRITERIA FOR
THE OPTIMAL LOCATION OF
RENEWABLE ENERGY
FACILITIES
It is necessary to know which criteria influence (and
to what extent), the decision-making problem
proposed. Although previous studies have been
conducted indicating the features that these criteria
should meet (Janke, 2010; Al-Yahyai et al., 2012),
the fact of using one or another will depend mainly
on the study area. However, it is possible to establish
common generic criteria that subsequently may be
decomposed into specific criteria of sub-criteria,
which will depend on the characteristics and nature
of the area to be analyzed.
Therefore, following the guidelines established
in (Aran Carrión et al., 2008), four groups of main
criteria will be established:
Environment criterion
Location criteria
Orography criteria
Climatology criteria
Through environment criterion it is not intended
to assess the impact that these facilities cause of
renewable energy plants in certain sites, the
description of this criterion is based on the
suitability of installing renewable energy plants
depending on the capacity that it presents a land to
host them. Location criteria will be compose on the
one hand by those criteria that allow to evaluate the
distances that it would have the future renewable
plants regarding infrastructures or areas in which
they cannot be implemented (cities, airports, masts,
etc) and, on the other hand by those criteria that will
not only allow to reduce the installation costs but
also will favour its performance (distance to main
roads, power lines, etc). Orography criteria are based
on both the extension and the orographic features
that it presents a land to implement this type of
facilities in order to minimize the installation costs
and increase efficiency, for example, to implement
solar facilities will not only be appropriate that the
land has sufficient area but it must also have low
slopes and a correct orientation. Finally climatology
criteria will allow evaluating the production capacity
of the renewable energy plants. It should be chosen
sites where these criteria present appropriate values
because these criteria are essential not only for the
correct operation of the plant but also to optimize the
production.
These criteria are common to the main renewable
energy facilities, and especially to those which this
paper is focused on: wind farms, solar photovoltaic
plants and thermoelectric plants.
The difference between the different
technologies exists in the definition of the sub-
criteria to be considered in the location, based on the
type of technology used. So for wind farms the
hierarchy of criteria is that shown in Figure 1 when
(Sanchez-Lozano et al., 2013b):
C
1
: Agrological capacity (Classes): Suitability
of land for agricultural development, if the land
presents excellent agrological capacity it will
not be suitable to implement the renewable
facility and vice versa.
C
2
: Slope (%): Inclination of the land, the
higher the percentage of surface inclination, the
worse fitness it will have to implement a wind
farm.
C
3
: Area (m²): Surface contained within a
perimeter of land that can accommodate a
renewable energy facility.
C
4
: Distance to main airports (m): Space of
interval between the nearest airport and the
different possible sites.
C
5
: Distance to main roads (m): Space of
interval between the nearest main road and the
different possible sites.
C
6
: Distance to power lines (m): Space of
interval between the nearest power line and the
different possible sites.
C
7
: Distance to cities (m): Space of interval
between the population centres (cities and
towns) and the different possible sites.
C
8
: Distance to electricity transformer
substations (m): Space of interval between the
nearest electricity transformer substation and
the different possible sites.
C
9
: Distance to mast (m): Space of interval
between the nearest mast and the different
possible sites.
C
10
: Wind speed (m/s): It corresponds to the
wind speed at an elevation of 80 meters in the
different possible sites.
In the case of solar photovoltaic and
thermoelectric plants the criteria tree is as in Figure
2 where we have some similar criteria (C
1
, C
2
, C
3
,
C
5
, C
6
, C
7
, and C
8
) but others which are different
due to the technology used (Sanchez-Lozano et al.
2013a):
C
4
: Field Orientation (Cardinal points): Position
or direction of the ground to a cardinal point.
C
9
: Potential solar radiation (kJ·m²/day): It
corresponds to the amount of solar energy a
ground surface receives over a period of time
(day).
DecisionSupportSystemstoObtainDecisionCriteriabyFuzzyAHPforLocationofRenewableEnergyFacilities
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