GIS-AHP Based Approach for Largescale Solar PV Site Selection: A Case of Tunisia

Constructing largescale solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants is a major long-term investment. Therefore, identifying the optimal locations is of a prime importance since it has a direct impact on the PV system performance. The main objective of this study is to identify the most promising sites to host largescale solar PV power plants in Tunisia using geographical information systems (GIS) combined with a multi-criteria decision-making approach. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique was used to give weights to the considered criteria, while the weighted overlay tool within the ArcGIS was used to compute the spatial analysis to generate the suitability index map of the potential sites. A sensitivity analysis was performed considering three different scenarios (AHP, Equal weight, Higher location and orography). The final overlaid map revealed that almost 80% of the study area was suitable for hosting largescale solar PV power plants whereas areas of extreme and high suitability, accounting for 1% and 8%, respectively, were densely scattered in the southern and central regions with a few spots in the northwest and eastern parts of the country. In addition, the estimated technical potential varied between 406 and 164 TWh/year based on the selected technology.