GIS Based Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process for wind Energy Sites Selection

Abstract

Site wind farm choosing is a critical element in constructing a wind power generation, that's why determining the ideal location for a wind farm is a complicated process which encounters decision makers. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach based on geographic information system (GIS) is used for selecting the best location for wind energy by assigning suitable rating to the criteria with regards to their relative importance and calculating weight of each criterion. Accordingly, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) were proposed. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is one of the easy methods for choosing a criterion among a large number of criteria. Fuzzy AHP is a developed extension of classical AHP. In this study an analogy is made between Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the Buckley's Fuzzy-AHP algorithm and geometric mean Fuzzy-AHP method for selecting wind farm. The selection is managed by using six criteria such as land use, wind speed, urban area, distance to power lines, distance to roads and slope. The three approaches have been compared on the same hierarchy structure and criteria set and the three methods result display that the wind and slope have the highest priority.