IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v182y2019icp900-919.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A geographical information system-based multi-criteria method for the evaluation of solar farms locations: A case study in Souss-Massa area, southern Morocco

Author

Listed:
  • Mensour, O. Nait
  • El Ghazzani, B.
  • Hlimi, B.
  • Ihlal, A.

Abstract

It is now well established that solar energy is a reliable alternative way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to mitigate climate change effects. In Morocco, solar energy investments are rapidly rising since 2009 and are expected to grow dramatically in the next decade. Site selection is a critical issue when large-scale solar plants are being planned. In this paper, the multi-criteria evaluation method is used to identify suitable sites to host Photovoltaic projects in southern Morocco. For this purpose, geographical information systems and analytic hierarchy process methods were combined to represent a high-resolution map that compares the potential of the studied region to host large-scale Photovoltaic projects. HOMER software was then used for modeling and simulating a 10 MW grid-connected PV system. The optimum scheme is analyzed to assess the economic feasibility in the most suitable site in the Souss-Massa region. The findings from this study confirm that 24.08% of the studied area offers suitable sites to host the Photovoltaic farms. The HOMER simulation has clearly shown that the grid-connected Photovoltaic system is beneficial in the long run, although its initial capital is higher than the grid supply only. Also, the cost of electricity generated from Photovoltaic panels is affordable.

Suggested Citation

  • Mensour, O. Nait & El Ghazzani, B. & Hlimi, B. & Ihlal, A., 2019. "A geographical information system-based multi-criteria method for the evaluation of solar farms locations: A case study in Souss-Massa area, southern Morocco," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 900-919.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:182:y:2019:i:c:p:900-919
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.06.063
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544219311946
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2019.06.063?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elkadeem, M.R. & Younes, Ali & Sharshir, Swellam W. & Campana, Pietro Elia & Wang, Shaorong, 2021. "Sustainable siting and design optimization of hybrid renewable energy system: A geospatial multi-criteria analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    2. Shao, Meng & Zhao, Yuanxu & Sun, Jinwei & Han, Zhixin & Shao, Zhuxiao, 2023. "A decision framework for tidal current power plant site selection based on GIS-MCDM: A case study in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    3. Virginia Thomasi & Julio Cezar Mairesse Siluk & Paula Donaduzzi Rigo & Carmen Brum Rosa & Enoque Dutra Garcia & Ricardo Augusto Cassel & Carlos Fernando da Silva Ramos, 2022. "A Model for Measuring the Photovoltaic Project Performance in Energy Auctions," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(4), pages 501-511, July.
    4. Aziza Irhza & Laila Nassiri & Moussa El Jarroudi & Fouad Rachidi & Rachid Lahlali & Ghizlane Echchgadda, 2023. "Description of the Gap between Local Agricultural Practices and Agroecological Soil Management Tools in Zerhoun and in the Middle Atlas Areas of Morocco," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, January.
    5. José Eduardo Tafula & Constantino Dário Justo & Pedro Moura & Jérôme Mendes & Ana Soares, 2023. "Multicriteria Decision-Making Approach for Optimum Site Selection for Off-Grid Solar Photovoltaic Microgrids in Mozambique," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-41, March.
    6. Minaei, Foad & Minaei, Masoud & Kougias, Ioannis & Shafizadeh-Moghadam, Hossein & Hosseini, Seyed Ali, 2021. "Rural electrification in protected areas: A spatial assessment of solar photovoltaic suitability using the fuzzy best worst method," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 334-345.
    7. Ullah, Zia & Elkadeem, M.R. & Kotb, Kotb M. & Taha, Ibrahim B.M. & Wang, Shaorong, 2021. "Multi-criteria decision-making model for optimal planning of on/off grid hybrid solar, wind, hydro, biomass clean electricity supply," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 885-910.
    8. Martínez-Gordón, R. & Morales-España, G. & Sijm, J. & Faaij, A.P.C., 2021. "A review of the role of spatial resolution in energy systems modelling: Lessons learned and applicability to the North Sea region," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    9. Jiang, Hou & Lu, Ning & Qin, Jun & Yao, Ling, 2021. "Hierarchical identification of solar radiation zones in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    10. Shriki, Noam & Rabinovici, Raul & Yahav, Kobi & Rubin, Ofir, 2023. "Prioritizing suitable locations for national-scale solar PV installations: Israel's site suitability analysis as a case study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 105-124.
    11. Gao, Jianwei & Guo, Fengjia & Ma, Zeyang & Huang, Xin & Li, Xiangzhen, 2020. "Multi-criteria group decision-making framework for offshore wind farm site selection based on the intuitionistic linguistic aggregation operators," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    12. Gao, Jianwei & Wang, Yaping & Huang, Ningbo & Wei, Lingli & Zhang, Zixuan, 2022. "Optimal site selection study of wind-photovoltaic-shared energy storage power stations based on GIS and multi-criteria decision making: A two-stage framework," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P1), pages 1139-1162.
    13. Hirsh Bar Gai, Dor & Shittu, Ekundayo & Attanasio, Donna & Weigelt, Carmen & LeBlanc, Saniya & Dehghanian, Payman & Sklar, Scott, 2021. "Examining community solar programs to understand accessibility and investment: Evidence from the U.S," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    14. Nima Mirzaei, 2022. "A Multicriteria Decision Framework for Solar Power Plant Location Selection Problem with Pythagorean Fuzzy Data: A Case Study on Green Energy in Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-18, November.
    15. Elkadeem, Mohamed R. & Younes, Ali & Mazzeo, Domenico & Jurasz, Jakub & Elia Campana, Pietro & Sharshir, Swellam W. & Alaam, Mohamed A., 2022. "Geospatial-assisted multi-criterion analysis of solar and wind power geographical-technical-economic potential assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    16. Sofia Spyridonidou & Eva Loukogeorgaki & Dimitra G. Vagiona & Teresa Bertrand, 2022. "Towards a Sustainable Spatial Planning Approach for PV Site Selection in Portugal," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-22, November.
    17. Abid, Hamza & Thakur, Jagruti & Khatiwada, Dilip & Bauner, David, 2021. "Energy storage integration with solar PV for increased electricity access: A case study of Burkina Faso," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    18. Geovanna Villacreses & Diego Jijón & Juan Francisco Nicolalde & Javier Martínez-Gómez & Franz Betancourt, 2022. "Multicriteria Decision Analysis of Suitable Location for Wind and Photovoltaic Power Plants on the Galápagos Islands," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-23, December.
    19. Doorga, Jay R.S. & Hall, Jim W. & Eyre, Nick, 2022. "Geospatial multi-criteria analysis for identifying optimum wind and solar sites in Africa: Towards effective power sector decarbonization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:182:y:2019:i:c:p:900-919. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.