GIS Based Solar Pv Power Plants Site Selection: A Case Study in Ankara

Abstract

The rapidly increasing population and developing industry worldwide are increasing the demand for energy every day. The fact that non-renewable energy sources are both limited and harmful to the environment has made it necessary to meet the increasing energy demand from renewable energy sources. The increasing global warming due to the use of fossil fuels may make the world an uninhabitable place. Recently, rising concerns in this direction have led governments to turn to renewable energy policies. Turkey is also a country dependent on foreign energy sources, which not only increases the cost of energy production but also jeopardizes energy supply security. However, Turkey is rich in renewable energy resources due to its advantageous geographical location and favorable climate conditions. Especially, the solar energy potential is quite high. Considering these favorable conditions, investments in solar energy will not only reduce the existing foreign dependency but also minimize environmental damage.

However, investments in solar energy bring along a series of economic, legal, and environmental conditions. It is crucial to accurately evaluate these conditions before investment and to determine suitable criteria by analyzing the areas where Solar Power Plants (SPP) will be established. Although the Solar Energy Potential Atlas of Turkey shows the areas that can benefit the most from solar radiation, this criterion alone is not sufficient for an SPP. Evaluating the suitability of the criteria for the area where the SPP will be established and assessing the area from all aspects will maximize the efficiency obtained from the SPP.

In this study, it is aimed to determine the suitable and unsuitable areas for establishing SPPs within the province of Ankara by using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The selection of Ankara province as the study area was influenced by its status as the second-largest city in Turkey in terms of population and its high energy demand due to its current production and consumption capacity. Criteria for the selection of the most economically, environmentally, and efficiently suitable locations for establishing SPPs were determined through literature review and expert opinions. The weighting of the determined criteria was done using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), one of the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods, with the help of a survey requiring expert opinions. Subsequently, a suitability map showing the suitable areas for SPP site selection in the region was obtained using GIS. According to the analysis of the suitability map for the entire province of Ankara, the results were evaluated as 4.4% not suitable, 15% unsuitable, 36.6% moderately suitable, 42% highly suitable, and 2% very highly suitable. Using the suitability map, 103 SPPs, which were previously identified and digitized using Google Earth, were analyzed and evaluated as 9 very highly suitable, 60 suitable, 33 moderately suitable, and 1 unsuitable.