Siting of Potential Areas for the Sustainable Development of Large-Scale Onshore Wind Farms Using Multi-Criteria Analysis and Geographic Information System: A Case Study on Bangladesh

The policymakers of Bangladesh have been mapping the energy mix to shift its high dependency on fossil fuels to sustainable energy; wind energy is addressed as a highly potential option. A feasible site selection process is essential for wind power plant establishment; thus, this study aims to identify potential areas for the sustainable development of large-scale wind plants by considering socio-economic, safety and environmental factors. In this study, two techniques of multi-criteria analysis (MCA), analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and ratio scale weighting (RSW), were incorporated with geographic information system (GIS) to select the optimal area in Bangladesh. This study considers fifteen sub-criteria under four main criteria, namely, socio-economy, geology, ecology, and climatology. AHP and RSW assign suitable weights to the sub-criteria based on their significant impact on the plant. GIS analyzes spatial data layers and produces suitability maps with the following categories: 5—most suitable, 4—suitable, 3—moderately suitable, 2—unsuitable, 1—completely unsuitable, and 0—excluded area. The final suitability map was generated using suitability maps of AHP and RSW. Finally, a combination of the final suitability map and the wind speed suitability map provide a total suitable area of 1595.8293 km2. This could produce 2.96 GW power with 1418 wind turbines and be able to reduce 4,992,346.42 tons of CO2 emissions annually (calculated using a reference turbine). The study was uniquely carried out at a 150 m hub height, and integration of AHP and RSW for weight cross-validation was performed for the first time in large-scale wind plant siting in Bangladesh. The findings of the study can be helpful for decision-makers in developing large-scale wind power plants.