Reclaiming West Virginia gas wells for agrivoltaics: a fuzzy logic approach

Natural gas wells nearing the end of their production cycles represent both an environmental liability and an opportunity for sustainable land reuse in Appalachia. This study develops a fuzzy-logic geographic information system (GIS) model to identify well sites in West Virginia (WV) suitable for reclamation through small-ruminant agrivoltaic systems. The model integrates topographic, solar, and accessibility variables—slope, aspect, land cover, solar radiation, and distance to roads—each standardized by fuzzy membership functions and combined through fuzzy overlay to generate a continuous suitability surface. A biologically derived pairwise buffer analysis couples a 2.02 ha well-pad exclusion zone with a 1.48 ha grazing buffer representing the minimum forage area required for rotational grazing. Within a four-county case study, the model isolated 129 wells of high suitability, primarily in Tyler, Doddridge, and Harrison Counties. The framework provides a reproducible spatial decision tool for targeting post-extraction sites where solar infrastructure and managed grazing can co-locate, supporting both renewable-energy and land-restoration goals in the Appalachian region.