Selection of suitable concentrated solar power farm’s locations A Case study: Fez-Meknes Region, Morocco

Intelligent Systems, Georesources and Renewable Energies Laboratory (SIGER), Faculty of Sciences and Techniques of Fez, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, PO. Box 2202, Fez, Morocco

^* Corresponding author: abdelkhiar.aitali@usmba.ac.ma

Abstract

Nowadays, the transition to green energies becomes a necessity in the worldwide. In order to have an optimal yield, the selection of the adequate site for a given technology is required. In this study, the geographical environment of Fez-Meknes region, Morocco, is explored to select suitable location for concentrated solar power plants (CSP). For this purpose, a combination of a geographic information system (GIS) and the multi-criterion decision-making (MCDM) method is used for this aim. Various factors are taken into consideration, namely climate conditions, environment, water resources and location. These criteria are calculated and weighted using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach. The findings indicate that the Fez-Meknes region is a viable location for the implementation of CSP plants. Thus, the most suitable site represents 12% of the total region area. These suitable areas are located in the southern and southeastern part of the region with an irradiation value of about 6.57 kWh/m²/yr.