TITLE:
AHP with GIS for a Preliminary Site Selection of Wind Turbines in the North West of Jordan
AUTHORS:
Abdel Rahman Al-Shabeeb, Rida Al-Adamat, Atef Mashagbah
KEYWORDS:
GIS, AHP, Site Selection, Wind Turbine, Jordan
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.7 No.10,
October
27,
2016
ABSTRACT: The aim
of this study was to identify potential sites for wind turbine in the North
West of Jordan. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used in a novel
approach to identify the potential sites for the wind turbine in the study area
based on five physical criteria (Wind Speed, Rainfall, Slope, Altitude and Land use)
that affect the wind turbine sites. The importance of each criterion was based
on experts’ opinions. The ratings for each criterion were based on the available literature review. The consistency ratio between
the experts’ opinions was evaluated using the pairwise comparison method and a final weight was
computed for each criterion. A wind turbine suitability map was generated using
the weighted linear combination (WLC) method within GIS environment. It was
found that 45% of the study area has high and very high suitability for wind
turbine. In conclusion, this research will contribute to the enhancement of the
available renewable energy resources in Jordan if the selected sites will be
utilized for wind turbine.