SITE SUITABILITY ANALYSIS FOR SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAICS: A CASE STUDY OF ABAYA WOREDA, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract Energy is becoming a very important input into our daily lives. Abaya woreda is known for its rare electrification, where only less than 6.5% of households have access to clean energy. With a prime objective, this study investigates the suitability of sites for the development of solar farms considering different conflicting factors in Abaya woreda. To make the study more objective and comprehensive, different spatial data was acquired from different sources and processed for further analysis. Solar insolation data was acquired from the global solar atlas and masked to the extent of the study area. Land use/cover was processed from Landsat 8 operational Land Imager (OLI) using ERDAS IMAGINE. A Digital elevation model was used to derive topographic factors, whereas road networks were digitized from topographic maps. Each factor was reclassified into four suitability layers. The weights for each parameter are calculated using the pairwise comparison method of the AHP family in the ArcGIS AHP extension. The inconsistency, which may result from subjective decisions, was checked before proceeding to the overlay process. The reclassified thematic maps were overlaid using the popular overlay method, weighted overlay. The final suitability map was produced, containing four different suitability classes: highly suitable, suitable, marginally suitable, and least suitable. In total, 6.26% of the study area was found to be highly suitable for solar farm developments, while 47.8%, 20.82%, and 25.09% of the study area were found to be suitable, marginally suitable, and least suitable for solar farm developments, respectively. A calculation was performed to estimate the power generation potential of the highly suitable or feasible area, and the area has an annual power generation of 146390 MWh/year. Although the woreda has tremendous energy potential, most people are still dependent on conventional energy sources for their power needs. Using geospatial technology can help resolve spatial problems, and most parts of Abaya woreda can be electrified by a solar farm if it is constructed with the available solar radiation and suitable sites.