Site Suitability Analysis of Solar PV Power Generation in South Gondar, Amhara Region

Abstract

The Ethiopian government looked towards renewable energy resources to generate electrical power for the current demand of the country. 85% of the total population of the country lives in rural areas and uses fossil fuel for their domestic uses. Using fossil fuel poses a danger for users and the environment. And the government of Ethiopia planned to electrify 85% of the rural community with abundant available renewable resources around the community. Therefore, identifying potential locations for solar PV with GIS is a decision support tool for proposing suitable sites to the government. The solar PV suitability analysis provides optimal locations for solar PV power plant installations. To find suitable locations for solar PV, factors that affect suitability were identified and weighted using analytical hierarchy processes. Then, the weighted values and reclassified values were multiplied together to produce the final suitability map for solar PV. Due to site unsuitability, solar PV generation efficiency drops and may malfunction. By identifying the most suitable locations, a solar PV power plant is optimally located. Therefore, the objective of this study was to find the most suitable sites in the South Gondar Zone for generating power from solar PV. The suitability of the study area for a solar PV power plant is 86.5%. Eighty-six (86%) of the criteria considered in the study area were found to be suitable for optimal location of solar PV power plant. Most of the suitable areas were found in the western part of the zone. The nature of topography is a key factor in generating solar energy; it affects the solar irradiance coming to the solar PV panel surface.

Geospatial Analysis of Solar Energy in Riyadh Using a GIS-AHP-Based Technique

“…In 2020, a site suitability analysis of solar PV power generation was conducted in South Gondar, in the Amhara Region [7]. The research sought to identify a suitable location in Ethiopia for solar energy exploitation, as few researchers have explored solar energy in the area.…”

“…Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) -Computational simplicity -Method adaptability and applicability -Evaluates qualitative and quantitative criteria and alternatives on a similar preference scale -Intuitive method of problem solving -Hierarchical structure offers excellent focus on each criterion used in the calculation -Results are affected by interdependence between objectives and criteria -Model complexity increases when more decision makers are involved -Additional analysis is required to verify the results WLS was used by [11,18,19], which used only one dimension of factors, while in our domain, we need more than one dimension of factors, such as technical and environmental factors, as a hierarchical structure. However, [8,16] used TOPSIS, which has high subjectivity, while AHP was used in [5][6][7]9,[13][14][15], with multiple dimensions and a hierarchical structure. This analysis shows that GIS-AHP is the most common method used in site suitability assessments for solar PV projects and that this offers accurate results in comparison with other MCDA methods.…”

“…In the planning process, we identified two types of criteria: evaluation criteria that will be used in the site suitability analysis and constraints that will be used to eliminate the unsuitable areas. Evaluation criteria and constraints were chosen using the designed principles developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and previous studies [7,9,13,18]. NREL is a solar energy research institute in Golden, Colorado, US.…”

“…The gradient of the land will affect the reception of solar radiation; with flatter land, more radiation will be received [7].…”

“…A number of studies have been conducted in the field to examine site suitability for solar energy projects. Studies, such as those in [5][6][7][8], have been conducted in a variety of different areas, including Aswan, Mauritius, the Amhara Region and the southeast US, ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf.…”