A hybrid AHP-PROMETHEE II onshore wind farms multicriteria suitability analysis using kNN and SVM regression models in northeastern Greece

Wind energy presents a high growth potential in the EU as an emission reduction strategy and to achieve the climate neutrality goal by 2050. Wind farms suitability analysis is one of the primary goals in the spatial planning of wind energy developments. This research paper introduces a hybrid spatial multicriteria GIS-based framework that combines Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), PROMETHEE II and Machine Learning algorithms to determine and predict the most efficient onshore wind farm locations by generating suitability index mappings. The methodology allows to overcome PROMETHEE II limitations in raster driven suitability analysis, utilizing machine learning regression methods as the k Nearest Neighbor and Support Vector Machines to predict a graduating mapping of suitability index for wind farm locations in northeastern Greece. The best configured models presented a RMSE of 0.0344 and 0.0154 respectively, indicating a quite high predictive performance. Suitability results indicate that 56.10 % of the feasible locations in the Thrace area present a positive outranking character for the kNN model and 56.79 % for the SVR model. The proposed framework, enriched by PROMETHEE II capabilities, assists energy and spatial planners in identifying suitable sites for wind farm siting and enables rational decision making that enhances efficient wind energy investments.