Concentrated solar power site suitability using GIS-MCDM technique taken UAE as a case study

Abstract

In recent years, countries have begun to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and replace them with renewable energy resources in order to mitigate the effects of fossil fuels on the environment and save money besides increasing energy security. This paper has investigated the suitability map for the large-scale projects in concentrated solar power (CSP) in United Arab Emirates (UAE) using GIS data and multi-criteria decision making technique (MCDM). The suitability map is composed of multi-maps (layers) of solar irradiation [Direct Normal irradiance (DNI) component], land slope, protected areas, land use, proximity to water bodies, power grid and the roads. Then, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is applied to identify the weights of ranking criteria. The paper has highlighted the most-suitable location as well as non-suitable location among UAE to install CSP projects. The study's results proved that UAE have multi-hotspot locations can be exploited for CSP projects.