A GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis of wind farm site suitability in New South Wales, Australia, from a sustainable development perspective

Sammanfattning: The interest for renewable energy within Australia is growing and the New South Wales (NSW) Government has committed to a Renewable Energy Target scheme of 20 percent renewable energy by 2020. Wind energy is a mature renewable energy resource, which has been successfully deployed for electricity generation around the world. It is further believed to be a viable option to help expand the renewable energy market in NSW. In this study, wind farm site suitability in NSW is evaluated from a sustainable development perspective, and by application of geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). As such, this project aims to develop a decision support tool to assist in wind farm planning by incorporating economic, environmental and social aspects of wind farm siting. The defined decision criteria include decision constraints and decision factors, of which the latter are standardised using primarily fuzzy logic. The MCDA implements a weighted linear combination method, with relative weights derived from pairwise comparisons based on the analytic hierarchy process. Furthermore, three policy scenarios are investigated: equal weights, environmental/social priority and economic priority. A suitability index (SI) is presented for each scenario, detailing the degree of suitability ranging between zero (0), not suitable location, and one (1), ideal location. The final suitability index for each policy scenario indicates that the majority of the study area is considered ‘acceptable’ (0.50 < SI ≤ 1) for wind farm development, with a varying, but relatively widespread, degree of ‘high suitability’ (SI > 0.75). The local government areas of Conargo and Jerilderie are recognised as priority areas in all three scenarios and therefore deemed to be of particular interest for further evaluation. Furthermore, the majority of existing wind farms were identified within areas of ‘high suitability’, and in relatively close proximity to the most suitable locations identified in this study. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicate great development potential for wind energy in NSW; and the here presented decision support tool could potentially assist wind farm developers and governments within a planning or decision making context in NSW.