Selection of suitable site in Pakistan for wind power plant installation using analytic hierarchy process (AHP)

Rise in environmental pollution is a critical problem faced by mankind today. Many interventions have been made to reduce the carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases. Interventions, such as the introduction of electric cars, and innovative techniques to harness energy from renewable sources have been implemented. Pakistan is also very focused on exploiting its renewable energy sources and many sources have been identified. Wind energy is considered to have a promising potential and numerous sites have been identified for installation of wind farms. In this paper, we have collected data for the sites with the capacity factor (key determinant of value of power plant) of 25% or above for 600 kW wind turbine and applied Multi-Criteria Decision Method to find the most suitable to least suitable site for the installation of wind farm with respect to different factors/criteria. Analytic Hierarchy Process is used to evaluate four potential sites based on the criteria of wind speed (m/s), wind power density (W/m²), distance from grid station (km), capacity factor, transport cost and population density. Results show that the preference of site largely depends on the average annual wind speed and wind power density. Our study is helpful for government as they verify the findings of Pakistan Meteorological Department but with different approach.