Modeling Site Suitability for Solar Farms in the Southeastern United States: A Case Study in Bibb County

While there is currently a significant opportunity for the construction of photovoltaic solar farms in the Southeastern United States, there is also a need for proper spatial planning that has not been adequately addressed by the existing literature. The objective of this study is to examine the adaptability of geographic information system-based multiple criteria decision analysis models developed for foreign contexts to the United States. This was accomplished through the application of a model developed originally for Thailand to the study area of Bibb County, Georgia, United States. Model results were analyzed to identify trends and provide concrete recommendations for future work. Using a six-rank classification scheme, 93% of Bibb County was found to have moderate suitability, while 5% and 2% had moderate-to-low and moderate-to-high suitability, respectively. Of the 11 model criteria, land usage and power line distance were found to have the largest impact on the area’s suitability. Statistical analysis identified positive trends indicating that these criteria explained 21% and 10% of the variance in the model’s output, respectively. Empirical verification proved the model structure to be viable for application in the Southeastern United States; however, additional examination of the model’s results found that there is room to improve the model for the local context. These improvements could potentially be realized through the reweighting of criteria and the re-establishment of evaluation benchmarks, allowing for the development of a truly robust model for the region.