Multi‐criteria analysis and Geographic Information Systems methods for wind turbine siting in a North Aegean island

Abstract

Abstract The need for energy independence of small remoted islands, promote the exploration of renewable energy sources. Greek islands have rich wind potential and subsequently, the attention is being drawn to the use of wind turbines to meet their energy needs. However, the optimal location of wind turbines installation is the basis for the exploitation of high wind potential in combination with the current legislation framework. This paper presents a combined use of Multi‐Criteria Decision‐Making (MCDM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the evaluation of eligible sites for wind turbine installation in North Aegean island, in Greece. Criteria weights are estimated for three scenarios using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for the illustration of the impact on the final design. The minimum distance from the main settlement of the island constitutes an extra constraint for the investigation of the capability of installing wind farms with the lowest possible energy losses due to power transmission via cables. In all scenarios, the prohibited zone corresponds to 27.9% of the total area of the island. Also, sites with high wind potential can be combined with lower altitudes and can give even more suitable locations for installation, reducing, thus, the installation cost. Economic‐oriented scenario appears to combine both low cost and larger surface area for installation. A sensitivity analysis is performed, for determining the impact of the criteria on the suitability of a site. It seems that new suitability maps are affected greater by the type of the chosen criterion rather than the weight.