Wind farms suitability location using geographical information system (GIS), based on multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods: The case of continental Ecuador

The aim of this research was to implement a geographical information system with multi-criteria decision making methods, to select the most feasible location for installing wind power plants in continental Ecuador. In addition, a standardization process was performed, which consists of establishing an overall performance index to evaluate the results. Finally, the Pearson correlation coefficient is used to analyze mutual correspondence between multi-criteria decision making methods. In this research, different selection criteria which include meteorological parameters (wind speed, air density), relief (slope), location (distances to substations, road network, urban areas, transmission lines, charging ports) and environmental parameters (vegetation coverage), have been considered. The results of this research revealed that the site with the highest overall performance index is the Andean region of Ecuador, with an area of more than 617.5 km(2). The outcome of the overall performance index indicates that the four selected multi-criteria decision making methods provided similar results, where the value was equal to or greater than 75% of the maximum punctuation of an ideal location. In this context, the methods analyzed converge to similar solutions and indicate that the multi-criteria decision making method is a powerful tool for selecting ideal locations for wind farms. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.