IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v158y2022ics1364032122000363.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Geospatial multi-criteria analysis for identifying optimum wind and solar sites in Africa: Towards effective power sector decarbonization

Author

Listed:
  • Doorga, Jay R.S.
  • Hall, Jim W.
  • Eyre, Nick

Abstract

Africa has the potential to provide for its growing energy needs with renewable electricity sources. We implement a multi-criterial geospatial optimization to locate the most favorable sites for utility-scale, grid-connected onshore wind and solar PV. Legal, technical, political, environmental, socio-economic and investment risk factors were incorporated in the model. Analysis of the whole African continent revealed South Africa and Egypt to be amongst the most favorable countries for renewable investment, so these were subject to more in-depth analysis. The analysis revealed the favorable conditions offered by Egypt for solar energy installations are attributable to high yearly average insolation (278.3 W/m2), grid reliability, terrain appropriateness and political stability. Current heavy dependence on fossil fuels (165.7 billion kWh) means that there is great potential for emissions reduction from the power sector. South Africa, on the other hand, offers favorable conditions for wind installations due to high wind speeds (12 m/s at 100 m height), high fossil fuel electricity reliance (213 billion kWh), good political stability, and adequate techno-economic factors. The levelized cost of constructing wind farms in propitious sites in South Africa is 16.7% lower than building coal-fired power stations, while the levelized cost of constructing solar farms in optimum zones in Egypt is 29.7% lower than investing in combined-gas turbines and 37% lower than investing in diesel generators.

Suggested Citation

  • 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).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:158:y:2022:i:c:s1364032122000363
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2022.112107
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032122000363
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112107?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.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Meryem Tahri & Mustapha Hakdaoui & Mohamed Maanan, 2015. "The evaluation of solar farm locations applying Geographic Information System and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making methods: Case study in southern Morocco," Post-Print hal-01185533, HAL.
    2. Doorga, Jay R.S. & Rughooputh, Soonil D.D.V. & Boojhawon, Ravindra, 2019. "Multi-criteria GIS-based modelling technique for identifying potential solar farm sites: A case study in Mauritius," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 1201-1219.
    3. Tahri, Meryem & Hakdaoui, Mustapha & Maanan, Mohamed, 2015. "The evaluation of solar farm locations applying Geographic Information System and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making methods: Case study in southern Morocco," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1354-1362.
    4. Sánchez-Lozano, Juan M. & Teruel-Solano, Jerónimo & Soto-Elvira, Pedro L. & Socorro García-Cascales, M., 2013. "Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods for the evaluation of solar farms locations: Case study in south-eastern Spain," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 544-556.
    5. Ueckerdt, Falko & Hirth, Lion & Luderer, Gunnar & Edenhofer, Ottmar, 2013. "System LCOE: What are the costs of variable renewables?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 61-75.
    6. Höfer, Tim & Sunak, Yasin & Siddique, Hafiz & Madlener, Reinhard, 2016. "Wind farm siting using a spatial Analytic Hierarchy Process approach: A case study of the Städteregion Aachen," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 222-243.
    7. Dupont, Elise & Koppelaar, Rembrandt & Jeanmart, Hervé, 2018. "Global available wind energy with physical and energy return on investment constraints," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 322-338.
    8. Mondal, Md. Alam Hossain & Ringler, Claudia & Al-Riffai, Perrihan & Eldidi, Hagar & Breisinger, Clemens & Wiebelt, Manfred, 2019. "Long-term optimization of Egypt’s power sector: Policy implications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 1063-1073.
    9. Jun Rentschler & Morgan Bazilian, 2017. "Reforming fossil fuel subsidies: drivers, barriers and the state of progress," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(7), pages 891-914, October.
    10. Shorabeh, Saman Nadizadeh & Firozjaei, Mohammad Karimi & Nematollahi, Omid & Firozjaei, Hamzeh Karimi & Jelokhani-Niaraki, Mohammadreza, 2019. "A risk-based multi-criteria spatial decision analysis for solar power plant site selection in different climates: A case study in Iran," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 958-973.
    11. Elizabeth Asiedu, 2006. "Foreign Direct Investment in Africa: The Role of Natural Resources, Market Size, Government Policy, Institutions and Political Instability," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 63-77, January.
    12. Contreras, Francisco & Hanaki, Keisuke & Aramaki, Toshiya & Connors, Stephen, 2008. "Application of analytical hierarchy process to analyze stakeholders preferences for municipal solid waste management plans, Boston, USA," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 52(7), pages 979-991.
    13. Thomas Huld & Ana M. Gracia Amillo, 2015. "Estimating PV Module Performance over Large Geographical Regions: The Role of Irradiance, Air Temperature, Wind Speed and Solar Spectrum," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-23, June.
    14. Doljak, Dejan & Stanojević, Gorica, 2017. "Evaluation of natural conditions for site selection of ground-mounted photovoltaic power plants in Serbia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 291-300.
    15. Gregor Schwerhoff & Mouhamadou Sy, 2019. "Developing Africa’s energy mix," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 108-124, January.
    16. Dhunny, A.Z. & Timmons, D.S. & Allam, Z. & Lollchund, M.R. & Cunden, T.S.M., 2020. "An economic assessment of near-shore wind farm development using a weather research forecast-based genetic algorithm model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    17. Erica Gies, 2016. "Can wind and solar fuel Africa's future?," Nature, Nature, vol. 539(7627), pages 20-22, November.
    18. 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.
    19. Giamalaki, Marina & Tsoutsos, Theocharis, 2019. "Sustainable siting of solar power installations in Mediterranean using a GIS/AHP approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 64-75.
    20. Gastli, Adel & Charabi, Yassine, 2010. "Solar electricity prospects in Oman using GIS-based solar radiation maps," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 790-797, February.
    21. Baseer, M.A. & Rehman, S. & Meyer, J.P. & Alam, Md. Mahbub, 2017. "GIS-based site suitability analysis for wind farm development in Saudi Arabia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 1166-1176.
    22. Aly, Ahmed & Jensen, Steen Solvang & Pedersen, Anders Branth, 2017. "Solar power potential of Tanzania: Identifying CSP and PV hot spots through a GIS multicriteria decision making analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 159-175.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. L'Her, G.F. & Osborne, A.G. & Flanagan, R.R. & Deinert, M.R., 2024. "Localized economic and environmental benefits of residential solar in the United States," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    2. Gunnell, Yanni & Mietton, Michel & Touré, Amadou Abdourhamane & Fujiki, Kenji, 2023. "Potential for wind farming in West Africa from an analysis of daily peak wind speeds and a review of low-level jet dynamics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    3. Li, Xiaoya & Dong, Xinyu & Ye, Yanmei, 2024. "An interaction model applied to optimize photovoltaic farm location: A case study of China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 356(C).
    4. Benalcazar, Pablo & Komorowska, Aleksandra & Kamiński, Jacek, 2024. "A GIS-based method for assessing the economics of utility-scale photovoltaic systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PA).
    5. Victor-Gallardo, Luis & Quirós-Tortós, Jairo, 2023. "Techno-economic comparison of centralized and distributed power generation to support large-scale transport electrification in Costa Rica," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 120-138.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sofia Spyridonidou & Georgia Sismani & Eva Loukogeorgaki & Dimitra G. Vagiona & Hagit Ulanovsky & Daniel Madar, 2021. "Sustainable Spatial Energy Planning of Large-Scale Wind and PV Farms in Israel: A Collaborative and Participatory Planning Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-23, January.
    2. Saraswat, S.K. & Digalwar, Abhijeet K. & Yadav, S.S. & Kumar, Gaurav, 2021. "MCDM and GIS based modelling technique for assessment of solar and wind farm locations in India," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 865-884.
    3. Shao, Meng & Han, Zhixin & Sun, Jinwei & Xiao, Chengsi & Zhang, Shulei & Zhao, Yuanxu, 2020. "A review of multi-criteria decision making applications for renewable energy site selection," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 377-403.
    4. Yılmaz, Kutay & Dinçer, Ali Ersin & Ayhan, Elif N., 2023. "Exploring flood and erosion risk indices for optimal solar PV site selection and assessing the influence of topographic resolution," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    5. Tercan, Emre & Eymen, Abdurrahman & Urfalı, Tuğrul & Saracoglu, Burak Omer, 2021. "A sustainable framework for spatial planning of photovoltaic solar farms using GIS and multi-criteria assessment approach in Central Anatolia, Turkey," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    6. 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).
    7. Al Garni, Hassan Z. & Awasthi, Anjali, 2017. "Solar PV power plant site selection using a GIS-AHP based approach with application in Saudi Arabia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 1225-1240.
    8. Jesús A. Prieto-Amparán & Alfredo Pinedo-Alvarez & Carlos R. Morales-Nieto & María C. Valles-Aragón & Alan Álvarez-Holguín & Federico Villarreal-Guerrero, 2021. "A Regional GIS-Assisted Multi-Criteria Evaluation of Site-Suitability for the Development of Solar Farms," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-19, February.
    9. Sahoo, Somadutta & Zuidema, Christian & van Stralen, Joost N.P. & Sijm, Jos & Faaij, André, 2022. "Detailed spatial analysis of renewables’ potential and heat: A study of Groningen Province in the northern Netherlands," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    10. Finn, Thomas & McKenzie, Paul, 2020. "A high-resolution suitability index for solar farm location in complex landscapes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 520-533.
    11. Sward, Jeffrey A. & Nilson, Roberta S. & Katkar, Venktesh V. & Stedman, Richard C. & Kay, David L. & Ifft, Jennifer E. & Zhang, K. Max, 2021. "Integrating social considerations in multicriteria decision analysis for utility-scale solar photovoltaic siting," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    12. 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.
    13. Noorollahi, Younes & Ghenaatpisheh Senani, Ali & Fadaei, Ahmad & Simaee, Mobina & Moltames, Rahim, 2022. "A framework for GIS-based site selection and technical potential evaluation of PV solar farm using Fuzzy-Boolean logic and AHP multi-criteria decision-making approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 89-104.
    14. Colak, H. Ebru & Memisoglu, Tugba & Gercek, Yasin, 2020. "Optimal site selection for solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants using GIS and AHP: A case study of Malatya Province, Turkey," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 565-576.
    15. Doljak, Dejan & Stanojević, Gorica, 2017. "Evaluation of natural conditions for site selection of ground-mounted photovoltaic power plants in Serbia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 291-300.
    16. Rios, R. & Duarte, S., 2021. "Selection of ideal sites for the development of large-scale solar photovoltaic projects through Analytical Hierarchical Process – Geographic information systems (AHP-GIS) in Peru," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    17. Shorabeh, Saman Nadizadeh & Firozjaei, Mohammad Karimi & Nematollahi, Omid & Firozjaei, Hamzeh Karimi & Jelokhani-Niaraki, Mohammadreza, 2019. "A risk-based multi-criteria spatial decision analysis for solar power plant site selection in different climates: A case study in Iran," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 958-973.
    18. 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).
    19. V ctor Olivero-Ort z & Carlos Robles-Algar n & Julie Viloria-Porto, 2021. "An AHP-GIS Based Approach for Site Suitability Analysis of Solar-Wind Projects in Santa Marta, Colombia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 11(5), pages 211-223.
    20. Pojadas, Dave J. & Abundo, Michael Lochinvar S., 2022. "A spatial cost-benefit-externality modelling framework for siting of variable renewable energy farms: A case in Bohol, Philippines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 1177-1187.

    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:rensus:v:158:y:2022:i:c:s1364032122000363. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    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.