A Geographic Information System (GIS)–CRiteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) Framework for Selecting Solar Photovoltaics Sites: A Case Study

ABSTRACT The energy transition in Lithuania requires a rapid increase in renewable electricity generation, but in a way that does not interfere with protected landscapes, agricultural use of the territory, settlements, and infrastructure planning. The current study proposes developing a GIS–CRITIC model to identify potential locations for large‐scale photovoltaics in Lithuania. The proposed model combines environmental and land‐use factors, topography, infrastructural accessibility, and solar radiation availability. The fuzzy membership function approach is used to standardize spatial layers, and the CRITIC approach is used to weight spatial criteria based on their spatial variability and correlation. A final suitability map for photovoltaic development is calculated using the weighted linear combination approach in spatial multicriteria decision analysis and tested with the equal‐weighting sensitivity scenario. The analysis shows that the largest impact on site suitability comes from criteria related to infrastructural accessibility, including distance to settlements, road accessibility, and proximity to power lines. The high and very high suitability areas cover only 210.32 km 2 , accounting for 0.33% of the classified area. Priority areas are located mainly in the western, south‐western, and central parts of Lithuania, close to Klaipėda, Tauragė, and in parts of Kaunas county. Assuming utility‐scale PV plants require 40 MW/km 2 , these areas could hold 8.41 GW of capacity and generate around 8.11 TWh/year of electricity. The sensitivity analysis has confirmed that the main finding remains valid since even under the equal‐weighting scenario, suitable areas remain scarce.