Methodology for spatial analysis of hybrid renewable energy potential

Abstract

The increasing growth trends in the urban population and the continuous transformation of management concepts in urban environments have led to an increasing need for integrated and interoperable systems to support and enable the intelligent management of complex sys-tems in cities. The questions of the research; (i) What is the relationship between investment areas and potential areas for wind power plants (WPP), solar power plants (SPP) and biomass power plants (BPP) in Turkey? (ii) What are the regional priority areas for hybrid power plants based on WPP, SPP and BPP in the form? The aim of this article is to reveal the development of Turkey within the global policies that have necessarily evolved into hybrid energy production based on wind, solar and biomass, and to test a method for determining hybrid renewable energy potential areas. The study basically includes two stages. In the first stage, to present the general view and de-velopment, the installed power data according to the provinces from the annual reports of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) were mapped with the ArcMap 10.5 interface of ArcGIS software, which is one of the GIS system applications. In the second stage, VIKOR analysis, one of the MCDM methods, was performed to identify potential areas suitable for hybrid use. Accessibility of data, finding, collecting, and transform-ing the data set is an important step in studies carried out on indicators. Data for 81 provinces were obtained over the 2020 indicators regarding the determination of potential areas. For wind power plants, average wind speed; for solar power plant, average solar radiation times; for a biomass power plant, the amount of waste per capita and the energy equivalents of plant and animal wastes were obtained by requesting the General Directorate of Renewable Energy under the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. The data at this stage were transformed and priority areas were determined through numerical indicators. The limitations of this research, which reveal the empirical and methodological contribution, are listed in terms of energy type and scale. While the limitation in terms of energy type is hybrid systems based on wind, solar and biomass, in terms of scale, it covers the determination of potential areas in terms of strategic spatial planning. Within the scope of the study, the adoption of the VIKOR method includes the method to reveal the result based on consensus. In addition to providing this consensus, the method highlights the majority decision in terms of q=0.75 and q=1.00 values and reveals the minority group's decisions in terms of q=0.25 and q=0.00 conditions. Since the main axis of the study is based on consensus, ranking according to q=0.50 conditions was taken as the basis for potential prioritisation. The results reveal TR52, TR33, TR62, TR72 and TR63 regions as first-order potential regions for hybrid power plants. The replacement of traditional central electricity grid infrastructures with hybrid energy systems will provide opportunities for the integration of renewable energy sources into such systems, as well as reduce energy losses. Such systems will facilitate and accelerate the transition to the energy cooperative system. In addition, it will positively affect the innovative development of countries by in-creasing the orientation to regional storage and production. Today, the understanding of urban planning has taken consensus as its main axis. The VIKOR method, in which multiple deci-sion-making is at the forefront, also emerges as a method that supports the understanding of urban planning. The VIKOR method reveals important information to grasp the potential of renewable energy sources. In the study where hybrid potential areas were determined, TR52, TR33, TR62, TR72 and TR63 regions were in the first place as potential. This information can facilitate the transition of national energy and environmental development to sustainability by helping to establish a developmental vision for sustainable energy systems based on natural resources in the Strategic Spatial Planning process. When it comes to an energy policy developed with plans, the questions for whom, how much, where, what type of resource, how it will be managed, how it will be shared and how it will be distributed remain in the void. In this context, the fact that the VIKOR method an-swers these questions and is based on multiple decision-making in terms of the answers reveals that it can be used in planning processes.