GIS-Based Methodologies for the Design of Urban Biomass Energy Generators

Urban areas require context-specific bioenergy solutions to advance toward circular and sustainable energy systems. In Bogotá, urban pruning and grass-cutting residues constitute a relatively stable biomass stream; however, the absence of district-scale valorization infrastructure leads to their direct disposal in landfill. This study develops and applies a GIS-based planning methodology to support the territorial design of a small-scale anaerobic digestion plant using urban green waste. In this study, “small-scale” is understood as an early-stage urban facility concept compatible with the available pruning stream of approximately 1200–1300 t/month of valorizable biomass, corresponding only to an order-of-magnitude energy range of a few hundred kWe/kWt, rather than to a final engineering design. The approach integrates official geospatial data with logistical, environmental, and institutional criteria to characterize biomass availability and evaluate location alternatives under real urban constraints. A continuous location model based on the Weber problem is first applied to estimate a theoretical lower bound of spatial effort, using public schools weighted by enrollment as a proxy for sensitive urban demand. Subsequently, a GIS-assisted Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is implemented to incorporate environmental exclusions, territorial compatibility, and the operational structure of exclusive waste service areas. Results show that the optimal geometric location diverges from the territorially feasible alternative once environmental restrictions and biomass supply coherence are explicitly considered. The findings highlight that urban bioenergy infrastructure planning is governed less by pure spatial efficiency than by the integration of supply, demand, and institutional constraints. The proposed methodology provides a reproducible decision-support tool for urban bioenergy planning and contributes to sustainable waste management, circular economy strategies, and local energy resilience in cities of the Global South.