GIS-Based Multi Criteria Evaluation for Thermal Power Plant Site Selection in Kahnuj County, SE Iran

Choosing a location for a power plant site is a complex task that involves evaluation of multiple factors, which should satisfy a number of economic and environmental requirements. The main aim of this study is to determine the best possible candidates for thermal power plant sites using Multi-criteria Evaluation and Geographic Information System (GIS) in Kahnuj County in the southeast of Iran. First, the affecting factors to find the best sites for power plant establishment were identified including socio-economic and environmental factors. Each criterion was mapped in the GIS environment. Then, the layers were standardized and the relative weights of these layers were determined. Finally, weighted information layers were consolidated by Weighed Linear Combination approaches in GIS environment and the suitable locations were selected and ranked accordingly. The final index maps were grouped in five categories ranging from “no suitability” to “high stability” with an equal interval classification method. As a result the most suitable sites were patches located in the north-west parts of the study area.