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Comparison of Results from Two Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods for Solar Photovoltaic Plant Site Location: Case Study Rio De Janeiro

Marco Pereira de Souza, Luis Claudio Bernardo Moura, Carlos Alberto Nunes Cosenza, Silvio de Macedo Amaral, Rodrigo Pestana Cunha Telles, Manuel Oliveira Lemos Alexandre, Silvio Barbosa, Bruno de Sousa Elia, Maria Fernanda Zelaya Correia, Antonio Carlos de Lemos Oliveira, Rodrigo Ventura da Silva and Thais Rodrigues Pinheiro

Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, Volume 32, Issue 2, March 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47836/pjst.32.2.05

Keywords: GIS, multi-criteria decision making (MCDM), Rio de Janeiro, site selection, solar photovoltaic (PV)

Published on: 26 March 2024

Photovoltaic (PV) energy has become a low-cost, renewable, and environmentally friendly alternative to meet increasing energy demand. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of projects in this field in Brazil. Therefore, this study compares the results of two studies on the optimal site selection of PV in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. These studies used different methodologies to reach the conclusions and the resulting map. First, the final map of both studies was divided into a grid, and then the results of each cell were weighted for PV site selection. To compare the results using the maps, an intersection of the 10% of the grid cells with the best results from each study was formed. The results showed an 83% similarity between the different Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods. The other part of the comparison focused on the following rank similarity coefficients: Spearman Correlation Coefficient, WS Coefficient, Spearman Weighted Correlation Coefficient, and Blest Correlation Coefficient. All these coefficients had values greater than 0.9, indicating a high degree of correlation between the results of the studies. Therefore, the two studies have a high degree of similarity and a high potential for installing photovoltaic solar power plants in Rio de Janeiro, especially in its intersection zones.

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