Identification and selection of potential sites for onshore wind farms development in Region of Murcia, Spain

It is often advisable to combine spatial representation tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with Multi criteria Decision Making Methods (MCDM) when solving location complex problems. The current case refers to the search for and selection of sites for onshore wind farms on the coast of the Region of Murcia, in the southeast of Spain. When resolving the proposed problem, the legal restrictions and the criteria (wind speed, area, slope, etc.) that influence the location will be considered. These will be defined in the form of thematic layers that will be entered into the GIS. Restrictions will be imposed taking into account the legislative framework of the study area so that, through their analysis and editing, it will be possible to reduce the initial area and obtain suitable sites where this type of facilities can be installed. Moreover, as the objective of the study is to select the locations and obtain a ranking two different models will be applied, initially a categorical assessment through a lexicographic order will be performed using the tools available in the GIS and, later it will be applied the ELECTRE-TRI methodology will be applied in order to make a comparison between the methods. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.