Determination of Potential Geothermal Areas in Konya Seydişehir District Using GIS-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

Abstract

Today, one of the main challenges that countries face in their economic and social development efforts is to ensure access to cheap, clean and reliable energy resources. Especially the damages caused by fossil fuels and major environmental problems such as global warming increase the need for renewable energy sources. Turkey is among the richest countries in the world in terms of geothermal energy potential. Our country has great geothermal potential, ranking first in Europe and seventh in the world. Seydişehir district of Konya province is a residential area that has attracted attention in recent years with its geothermal energy potential and developments in the field of thermal tourism and the process of exploring geothermal areas is ongoing. In this study, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, which is a GIS-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis method (MCDA), was used to identify potential geothermal areas. All criteria used for the AHP method were determined by taking expert opinion and literature research. The potential geothermal map of the region was produced by combining the weighted layers of the standardized data according to AHP. With such a study, it is foreseen that the geothermal potential areas identified in the region will constitute an important infrastructure inventory for local governments and decision-makers in terms of evaluating and developing geothermal resources and providing suggestions for investments to be made in order to bring the maximum capacity to the national economy.