GIS-Based Decision Support System Using Analytical Hierarchy Process for Solar Cells Site Selection in Sinai Peninsula, Egypt

During the few recent decades, the demand for solar energy has increased and has been widely implemented around the world to replace the conventional non-renewable energy. One of the most challenging problems with the solar energy is the location suitability analysis to find where solar cells should be placed to maximize cells performance. This paper aims at developing a GIS-based Decision Support System (DSS) to locate ground-mounted solar cells installation sites in Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. The installation sites are determined using a Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) approach that considers various environmental and socio-economic factors. The DSS will identify suitable sites providing information on a multi-criteria level evaluation of locating solar cells. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) procedure, through ArcGIS Desktop 10, is used to calculate the multi-criteria weights. Eight criteria have been considered in this analysis such as sunshine, aspect, slope, temperature, pressure, humidity, lithology and wind speed. This study proves how GIS can be effectively used to spatially reconcile a selected prospect facility locations in a given region based on pre-existing geographic constraints. The results show that the most suitable areas for the solar cells installation projects cover about 24% of the area of Sinai and are mostly located at the Northern and the North-Western regions of Sinai based on the used criteria and the coarse scale.