GIS-based solar farms site selection using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in Karapinar region, Konya/Turkey

Renewable energy is clean sources and has a much lower environmental impact than other energy sources. In Turkey, solar energy investments have been developed rapidly in recent years. Site selection for solar farms is a critical issue for large investments because of quality of terrain, local weathering factors, proximity to high transmission capacity lines, agricultural facilities and environmental conservation issues. Multi criteria evaluation methods are often used for different site selection studies. The purpose of this study was to determine suitable site selection for solar farms by using GIS and AHP in the study area. The final index model was grouped into four categories as "low suitable", "moderate", "suitable" and "best suitable" with an equal interval classification method. As a result, 1538% (928.18 km(2)) of the study area has low suitable, 14.38% (867.83 km(2)) has moderate suitable, 15.98% (964.39 km(2)) has suitable and 13.92% (840.07 km(2)) has best suitable for solar farms area. 40.34% (2434.52 km(2)) of the study area is not suitable for solar farm areas. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.