Rural electrification in protected areas. A spatial assessment of solar photovoltaic suitability using fuzzy best-worst method

There is an increasing need for energy in rural and remote areas, which is exacerbated in developing countries. The complexity of designing strategies and solutions further increase for villages located in protected areas, national parks and wildlife refuges, the conservation of which is fundamental to achieve climate, environment and ecology targets. This article investigates the use of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology as a renewable energy source (RES) that can cover energy needs of rural areas in a continuous, secure and sustainable manner. In this research, the feasibility of using solar energy to electrify remote settlements in Iran located in protected areas (Khorasan-e-Razavi’s) was evaluated using a multi-criteria, GIS-based methodology. A set of criteria was selected evaluate the suitability of solar PV including solar irradiance and solar duration, aspect, temperature, precipitation, humidity, along with the proximity to faults, roads, and rivers. The Best-Worth Method (BWM) calculated the relative weight of the selected criteria. The results show that almost 2% of the region’s area is very-highly suitable and another 23.5% shows high-suitability. This 25% represents an area of 1500 km2 that includes 63 villages. Evaluation of census data shows that available building areas can cover the villages’ residential demand using rooftop PV systems. Nonetheless, local and national government support is necessary to develop an effective strategy that results in successful implementation.

MINAEI Foad;  MINAEI Masoud;  KOUGIAS Ioannis;  SHAFIZADEH-MOGHADAM Hossein;  SEYED ALI Hosseini; 

2022-01-04

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

JRC120928

0960-1481 (online),   

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148121007692?via%3Dihub,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC120928,   

10.1016/j.renene.2021.05.087 (online),