A combined geographical information system and Best–Worst Method approach for site selection for photovoltaic power plant projects

Site selection is one of the most important components of the execution of a solar photovoltaic power plant. The main aim of this study is to introduce an evaluation model for determining the optimal location for a photovoltaic project, based on Geographic Information System with a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making approach. The model takes into account various measures in three categories, namely climatic, location, and orography, to ensure select the best location from execution and technical points of view. Best–Worst Method, as a novel scheme, is employed for prioritization of criteria, in which the best and worst criteria play a significant role in decision making. After excluding restricted areas, weighted criteria are used to produce the necessary maps by GIS. Land suitability index is also defined and used to classify lands into five different groups. China’s capital, Beijing, is evaluated as a case study by focusing on the available data. SolarGIS maps as well as several ArcGIS tools are used in this study. The obtained results suggest that 27.4% of the studied region, mainly on the northern and northeastern parts of Beijing, is suitable for establishing these projects. Furthermore, based on land suitability index results, 61.96% of the suitable regions is classified as the “most suitable” category, whereas 27.14% is found to be “very suitable”. In the end, the proposed approach is found to be effective and compatible with the subject of this study.