Principles of site selection for solar thermal power generation

Why is site selection important for solar PV power plants?

Site selection for the utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar farm is a critical issue due to its direct impact on the power performance, economic, environmental, social aspects, and existing as well as future infrastructures. In this chapter, we conduct a literature review on site selection of solar PV power plants.

How to select a site for a solar power plant?

While developing a utility-scale solar power plant, various factors or criteria have to be taken care of in selecting the site location. Probable Site Selection of Photovoltaic Power Plant (PVPP) is a complex MCDM process, as the required site has to be climatically and geographically acceptable. It must also have the highest generation potentials.

Does proximity to populated areas affect solar PV power plant site selection?

Proximity to populated areas is considered widely in the literature as a determining factor for the site selection problem for solar PV power plant (Halder et al. 2021). When the solar PV power plant is near populated areas, the energy transmission cost is reduced; however, this may adversely affect the environment.

Why is site-selection of solar photovoltaics (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) important?

Scientific research on the site-selection procedures of solar photovoltaics (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies is of significant importance, contributing to environmentally sustainable, technically and economically viable, and socially acceptable solar energy projects.

Which criterion is most important when choosing a solar PV site?

The findings reveal that solar radiation is the most critical factor when choosing a solar PV site (Deveci et al. 2021). A scientific report published ranked ten different criteria for the site selection of a power plant using the fuzzy linguistic technique, ranking solar irradiance as the most important criterion (Türk et al. 2021).

Which factors determine solar PV site suitability?

Solar PV site suitability studies considered solar irradiation amount as the highest reported decision criteria followed by the proximity to power lines and land slope, whereas the protected lands and watercourses considered the highest restriction factors described in the literature.