Research Information System
International Journal of Renewable Energy Research, vol.9, no.3, pp.1203-1213, 2019 (Scopus)
Turkey spends around 50 billion dollars for oil and natural gas import products each year to meet the increasing energy demand. In fact, Turkey has rich renewable energy resources. Recently, serious efforts have been made to increase the utilization of solar energy. The annual sunshine duration and annual solar energy potential of the country are respectively 2737 hours (7,2 hours/day) and 1527 kWh/m2 (4,2 kWh/m2-day). Sivrihisar district of Eskisehir province, located in the central Anatolia, is also reported have remarkable potential for solar energy generation in terms of solar radiation, sunshine duration, topography and climatic conditions. There are currently 3 solar power plants in the region with a total generation capacity of 5MW. From this point, this study focuses on the determination of the suitable sites for the installation of solar power plants using weighted overlay analysis method via the utilization of geographical information systems (GIS). A variety of natural and cultural characteristics, such as solar energy potential, topography, transportation and infrastructure, fault lines, protected areas, bird migration routes etc. were included in the analysis. The weighted overlay results showed that 2,2% of the study area had 1st degree suitability, while 42,3% of Sivrihisar had 2nd degree suitable lands for solar power plant installation, according to the criteria adopted during the determination process. It was also concluded that 15%-efficient polycrystalline solar power plants, which would be installed on an area of 505000 m2, could generate electricity of 79489181 kWh/year (7,95 GWh/year), which would totally meet the annual electric demand in the district. The methodology and the results are supposed to encourage and guide the further solar power plant installation plans within the study area, as well as providing a sample framework in the country focusing on the consideration of a wide range of factors.