Research Article

Solar power plants site selection for sustainable ecological

development in Nigde, Turkey
Orhun Soydan1 

Received: 30 March 2020 / Accepted: 29 December 2020 / Published online: 8 January 2021
© The Author(s) 2021  OPEN

Abstract
Turkey’s population is constantly increasing, and thus, the energy consumption is also increasing. Wind turbines, nuclear
power plants, and boron and uranium resources are used for energy needs. Turkey meets its energy needs using these
resources. Sun which is a natural and unlimited resource among these resources is one of the most important natural
energy resources. The most important issue to consider in order to utilize solar energy in the most efficient way and to
obtain advantages is the selection of the suitable place for solar plants. The aim of this study is to select the most suitable
location for solar energy plants and provide to build solar power plants in suitable places. Eleven data layers (sunshine
duration, solar radiation, slope, aspect, road, water sources, residential areas, earthquake fault line, mine areas, power
line and transformers) that were prepared using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method in GIS were used and ana-
lysed. Based on the results of the analysis, the location of the areas where solar energy could be built was selected. As a
result of the study, it was determined that in particular the north-east of the Nigde is the most suitable for solar plants.
Ulukisla district has the most suitable feature for solar plants among the Nigde districts. 80% of the existing solar plants
are located in the detected areas. It has been determined that the other 20% of the solar plant is also in the suitable
areas, but their location is not suitable for the most efficiency.

Keywords  Solar energy · Site selection · GIS · Analytical hierarchy process · Sustainable ecological development

1 Introduction have decreased their electricity generation emission val-

ues due to the use of renewable energy capacity. Accord-
Fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and petroleum are ing to the data of renewable energy policies, when the
among the most preferred energy sources nowadays. renewable energy investments around the world are
These resources are considered to be unlimited in the examined, the total investment for 2017 was 279.8 billion
world and are used unplanned. These energy sources are dollars [4].
not unlimited, and they are negatively affected by some The advantages the use of renewable energy are rec-
reasons such as unconscious use, greenhouse gases and ognized worldwide as a result of significant investments
industrialization [1]. One of the preferred solutions to made in developed countries such as China, USA, Japan,
use these resources more efficiently and to minimize the India and Germany [5].
greenhouse gas effect is renewable energy sources [2, 3]. In 2018, many important steps were taken to renewable
Renewable energy sources have been attracted great electricity generation in some parts of the world. For exam-
attention in recent years. Although global energy that ple, Australia increased its renewable energy sources to
related to ­CO2 emissions have increased, some countries 20% for the first time, while Costa Rica provided 300 days

*  Orhun Soydan, [email protected] | 1Landscape Architecture Department, Faculty of Architecture, Niğde Ömer Halisdemir
University, Niğde, Turkey.

SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z

Vol.:(0123456789)
Research Article SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z

of energy to the countries from renewable energy with 15]. Another negative feature is that the investment costs
100% [5]. of solar panels are very high [16]. Soydan [12] stated that
In early 2019, renewable electricity generation in the the costs for the solar panels are recovered after 9 years.
USA approached levels of coal-fired power generation, and However, considering that the average usage time of the
renewable generation nearly doubled between 2008 and panels is 20 years, it can be said that this period is not too
2018 years. In Europe, Portugal generated more than half long [17].
of its electricity consumption from renewable sources in
2018, while the UK was set annual records in production
1.1 Solar energy in Turkey
shares for both onshore (9.1%) and offshore (8%) for the
wind energy. For the first time, the EU has generated more
Turkey’s economic growth, increasing population, indus-
than 15% of annual electricity using wind and solar power
trialization and energy needs in parallel with the improve-
[5].
ment of living conditions is increasing rapidly. Turkey is
In this respect, the next century seems to be important
considered poor in terms of fossil fuels.
in using the sun and its derivatives and other inexhaustible
The domestic production of the energy demand
and clean energy resources [6, 7].
decreased by 22% between the 1990 to 2013 years, and
There are a large number of alternative energy sources
foreign dependence has increased at the same rate.
that can replace fossil fuels in energy use such as wind
43–50% is the share of natural gas in electricity produc-
energy and hydropower. In addition to these resources,
tion over the last decade in Turkey. This is a clear proof that
solar energy is a natural resource that can replace fossil
high dependence on imported natural gas [18].
fuels because they cause less harm to the environment
The use of the solar energy is very important to ensure
and provide the unlimited energy [8, 9]. In addition to
diversity of sources of electricity production, struggling
environmental contributions, solar energy can provide
to reduce global warming and dependence on foreign
more economic gain compared to fossil resources.
sources for the fossil fuels.
Since these resources are more sustainable than other
According to the 2018 data of the Ministry of Energy
sources, they can meet the world’s energy consumption
[19], 31.9% of the power is hydraulic, 25.6% is natural gas,
demands. Today, we can say that energy consumption
21.5% is coal, 7.9% is wind, 5.7% is solar, 1.4% is by geo-
based on solar energy was increased by 50%. Studies esti-
thermal and 5.9% is from other sources. In 2018, the num-
mate that the global share of the solar energy consump-
ber of solar power plants in operation is 5868. Total solar
tion will be 16% by 2050 [10]. As of 2020, the global share
energy power is reached 5063.0 MW, of which 4,981.2 MW
of energy consumption based on solar energy is 12% in
is unlicensed, and 81.8 MW is licensed.
the world [11].
The share of solar panels in total electricity production
Although solar energy sources have ecological and eco-
in Turkey has increased to 2.5% with 7477.3 GWh [19, 20].
nomic advantages, there are some difficulties that prevent
Energy and Natural Resources Ministry [19–21] published
wide use worldwide. Firstly, as a result of the geographical
the “World and Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources
location, the desired efficiency cannot be obtained from
View”; according to the report, as of 2014, within the total
the solar energy. This potential decreases or increases
electricity production of 251.963 GWh, 17.4 GWh genera-
depending on the geographical position of the study area.
tion (0.01% share) was from solar energy; as of 2016, it
The other point is that they need very large areas for the
has reached 972 GWh in total production of 273.387 GWh
built of solar energy panels. For example, as a result of the
(0.36% share) [19–21].
study, a total of 80 acres is needed for a solar panel area of
In 2018, the total power of unlicensed solar power
5 MW power. An average of 20 acres of area is needed for
plants increased to 4.981 MW. The annual average increase
a 1 MW solar panel [12].
in electricity demand for the 20-year period in 2019 was
Later, since the materials that are used in the built of
calculated as 2.90%–3.84% according to different scenar-
the panels are metal or similar, these materials cause neg-
ios. It is predicted that it will reach 376 billion kWh in 2023
ativity in terms of aesthetic appearance in a large area.
and 613 billion kWh in 2039. It is predicted that the share
Another negative feature is that not all of these systems
of renewable energy sources will increase even more in
are used as energy. Energy losses occur in the conversion
meeting this demand [19–21].
of the energy that is obtained from the panels into electri-
cal energy.
As a result of researches, it has been determined that 1.2 Approach to the build of solar panels
the efficiency of solar panels is between 15 and 20%
[13]. As a result of the technical studies carried out in the It is possible to gather the studies on solar panels under
recent years, this efficiency has increased up to 40% [14, three groups. Some of them are the studies (Klepacha et al.

Vol:.(1234567890)
SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z Research Article

[22], Bayrakçı and Tezer (2019) [23], Baka et al. [24]) on the Based on the results of the analysis, the location of the
cost analysis of solar panels. areas where solar energy could be built was selected.
In the second group, there are studies (Strielkowski
et al. [25], Da Cunha et al. [26], Kocaman et al. [27]) to
determine the advantages of solar panels in terms of 2 Material and methods
energy. In the last group, there are studies (Koç et al. [28],
Wang et al. [29]) on the site selection for the most energy 2.1 Material
efficiency from solar panels. Since this study focuses on
select the suitable location in terms of solar panels, it can The study area includes the city of Nigde as a whole. Nigde
be included in this group. is located in 34°30′10′′-34°45′00′′ eastern longitude and
Although there are many studies (Wang et  al. [29], 37°54′00′′-38°06′30′′ northern latitude. The size of the
Alsabbagh [30], Suri [31]) related to solar panels in the study area is 7795.22 ­k m2. Nigde has a climate which is
world, Turkey also does not have too many studies (Geçen hot and dry in summers, and cold and snowy in winters.
[32], Sarsıcı [33], Oral et al. [34]) on this subject. According to the 84-year climate values covering the
The studies are mostly focus on cost analysis. However, 1935–2019 years, the lowest temperature was found in
the most important factor affecting the cost analysis is the January with − 25.6 °C and the highest temperature in
site selection. There are very few studies for site selection August with 38.5 oC. The annual rainfall varied between
of solar panels in Turkey. The criteria that were used in the 5.2 and 48.7 mm [36].
studies were found to be insufficient. This study aims to In this study, aspect and slope maps were produced
determine the most suitable location for solar panels using using elevation map which has 30 m resolution. The prop-
AHP method and various criteria. erties of the data which were used in the study are given
It is thought that this study will contribute significantly in Table 1.
to the literature in Turkey in terms of the selected method LULC (land-use and land-cover) classes were defined
and criteria. The number of these studies is quite low, from satellite images obtained in 2019 using visual inter-
especially in terms of landscape architecture professional pretation through ENVI 5.3, Harris Geospatial Solutions,
discipline. It can be thought that the study will contribute USA. Then, the LUCC maps were classified into nine dif-
to this issue as well. ferent land-use classes using the supervised classification
Nigde has one of the most sun in Turkey. Turkey’s annual method [37, 38]:
solar energy potential is 380 billion KWh. Average annual
sunshine duration per square metre is 2640 h, and average (1) urban areas,
annual solar energy potential is 1,303 kWh. (2) sparsely vegetated areas,
These data correspond to a power of 3.6 kWh with a (3) industrial units,
sunshine duration of approximately 7.2  h per square (4) pasture lands,
metre per day [19]. Compared to the other provinces in (5) agricultural lands,
the region, Nigde is the leader with the highest annual (6) broadleaved forest,
average global radiation value of 1620 kWh/m2-year. (7) coniferous forest,
The average daily sunshine duration of Nigde is 8.03 h, (8) watercourses,
and the average daily global radiation value is 4.44 kWh/
m2-day [35]. Nigde is suitable area for the solar panel
investments due to reasons such as weak pasture areas Table 1  Properties of the data
and high solar radiation values.
Data Source Resolution
Nigde gets sun about 300 days of the year. Nigde has
a very wavy topography due to its location. Due to this Elevation maps https​://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/ALOS/en/ 30 m
topography and the sunshine duration, Nigde is in a very aw3d3​0/data/index​.htm
suitable region in terms of solar panels built. That is why Power lines https​://www.opens​treet​map.org/ 0.3 m
Nigde was selected as the study area. Transformers
The aim of this study is to select the most suitable loca- Water sources
tion for solar energy plants and provide to build solar Roads
power plants in suitable places. Eleven data layers (sun- Fault lines
shine duration, solar radiation, slope, aspect, road, water Residential areas
sources, residential areas, earthquake fault line, mine Mining areas
areas, power line and transformers) that were prepared Climate data General Directorate of Meteorol- –
ogy (https​://mgm.gov.tr/)
using AHP analysis method in GIS were used and analysed.

Vol.:(0123456789)
Research Article SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z

(9) bare land. 5. Proximity to the power line

6. Proximity to transformers
The reason for using these data in the study is to 7. Distance to water resource areas
remove the agricultural areas, residential areas and water 8. Distance to fault line
surfaces in the area. The suitability or unsuitability of these 9. Proximity to residential areas
areas will not change the result. It is very difficult to build 10. Distance to mining areas
solar panels on these areas. Residential areas and water 11. Proximity to roads
surfaces are insufficient and impossible in terms of areas
where solar panels need to be build. Therefore, these areas Nigde is not located in an area that has not a lot of
were removed in the final map. Agricultural areas were rainfall or natural disasters. Temperature value is not
removed on the final map due to its ecological damage. important for panels, and sunshine duration and solar
radiation values are important. Therefore, climatic
2.2 Method parameters were ignored within the scope of the study.
However, it should not be forgotten that these factors
The data that were determined for the study were are valid only for this study and the number of criteria
arranged in the GIS and shown with the created maps. may increase or decrease depending on the region.
The data were scored by the "Euclidean distance" method. There are many factors in determining the site selection
The normalized data were reclassified and divided into 5 of the solar power plant. In addition, while calculating
classes; it was scored by giving the most suitable value the scores for each classification, it was benefited from
“5” and the least suitable value “1”. Suitable areas for solar previous studies on this subject such as Jung et et al. [9]
plant were determined and visualized by adding on the and Kum et al. [7]. Maps of sunshine duration, solar radia-
satellite image. tion, slope, aspect, proximity to the power line, proximity
In the solar energy site selection, the AHP method in to transformers, distance to water resource areas, dis-
GIS was used to determine the most suitable power plant tance to fault line, proximity to residential areas, distance
areas to be built for the province of Nigde. After determin- to mining areas, proximity to roads were done according
ing the necessary criteria, some arrangements have been to the values given in Table 2.
made to process the data. In the first stage, all data were It is advantageous to use the GIS method in order to
converted to UTM, WGS84 and 36 N coordinate system. ensure that these factors are compatible, monitored,
After the data were converted to the suitable coordinate interpreted and managed. “Analytical hierarchy process”
system, the data in vector format were converted to a ras- (AHP) method was used to determine the weight coef-
ter format. All data which were used in the study were con- ficients of the factors.
verted into raster format. The purpose of this transforma- AHP is a mathematical method that takes into account
tion is to ensure that each factor is scored in the specified the priorities of the group or individual and evaluates
class range (with the Reclassify command), and all data are the qualitative and quantitative variables together [39,
overlaid with the weight coefficients (with the Weighted 40]. As it is a simple, easy to use and understandable
overlay command) in order to determine the suitable areas method, it is a frequently used technique among multi-
for solar panels. criteria decision-making methods.
Raster data were analysed based on the "Euclidean dis- In this study, it was tried to reach the results by using
tance" method. After this process, the score (suitability) too many factors. AHP method was used to determine
of the layer that expresses each criterion was determined the weight coefficients of the factors among each other
according to the quality. Criteria maps were created by and to determine the weight coefficients of each factor
standardizing the layers. The values in the maps are pro- in the site selection of the solar energy panels.
vided in a fixed range between 1 and 5. It has been deter- AHP method calculates the consistency rate as a
mined that many criteria are used in the build of the solar result of determining the weight coefficients established
power plant. ArcGIS software was used in the study. In the among the factors. This consistency rate gives an idea
study, 11 factors were determined in order to determine about whether this relationship is right or wrong. This is
suitable areas for solar panels. The determined factors are a very important step to prove the accuracy of the study.
that: If the relationship between the number of factors and
these factors is determined clearly, the accuracy of the
1. Sunshine duration results will increase. Due to these features, AHP method
2. Solar radiation was preferred in the study.
3. Slope
4. Aspect

Vol:.(1234567890)
SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z Research Article

Table 2  Weighting coefficients of the evaluation criteria Table 2  (continued)

Factors Classification Value Factors Classification Value
2
Slope (%) %1 5 Solar radiation kWh/m  < 1500 1
%2 4 1500–1550 2
%3 3
1550–1600 3
%4 2
%5 1 1600–1650 4
Road classification 21,000 m <  1 1650 <  5
13,500 m -21,000 m 2
4500 m–13,500 m 3
2000 m–4500 m 4 2.2.1 Analytical hierarchy process (AHP)
100 m–2000 m 5
Aspect S, SE, SW and FLAT 5 AHP is a mathematical method that takes into account
E 4 the priorities of the group or individual and evaluates
NE 3 the qualitative and quantitative variables together. There
NW and W 2 are many studies (Garni et al. [41], Çolak and Kaya [42]) in
N 1 which AHP method is used for the build of solar panels. As
Power line classification 18,000 m <  1 it is a simple, easy to use and understandable method, it
12,000 m–18,000 m 2 is a frequently used technique among multi-criteria deci-
6000 m–12,000 m 3 sion-making methods. AHP consists of four steps.
1800 m–6000 m 4 Step 1 Decision-making problem is identified.
0000 m–1800 m 5 The decision-maker determines the necessary factors
Transformer analysis 40,000 m <  1 and sub-factors. At this stage, a survey study can be con-
30,000 m–40,000 m 2 ducted or the opinions of experts on the subject can be
24,000 m–30,000 m 3 obtained.
15,000 m–24,000 m 4 Step 2 The binary comparisons matrix is created.
0 m–15,000 m 5 This step is the most important of AHP. After determin-
Sunshine duration hours/year  < 1500 1 ing the factors and sub-factors, the degree of importance
1500–2000 2 of these factors among themselves is determined.
2000–2200 3 For this, binary comparison matrix is created. This matrix
2200–2500 4 is “A” (Table 3). The 1–9 scale of importance which is rec-
 > 2500 5 ommended by Saaty [43] is used to create these matrices
Distance to water resource areas 0000 m–1200 m 1 (Table 4).
1200 m–2800 m 2 “W” values in the matrix show how important the “i” fac-
2800 m–4700 m 3 tor is compared to the “j” factor.
4700 m–7100 m 4 Values on the diagonal of the created matrix are
7100 m <  5 expressed by a number. “I” and “j” are the same criteria. Fac-
Distance to fault lines 0000 m–4500 m 1 tors which are considered for comparison should be homo-
4500 m–9000 m 2 geneous. In terms of consistency and accuracy of the scale,
9000 m–15,000 m 3 the number of alternatives should be less than nine. If it is
15,000 m–21,000 m 4
21,000 m <  5
Proximity to residential areas 500 m–3000 m 1
3000 m–7500 m 2 Table 3  1–9 importance scale [43, 44]
7500 m–12,000 m 3 Value Explanation
12,000 m–18,000 m 4
18,000 m <  5 1 Equally important
Distance to mining areas 0000 m–4500 m 1 3 Moderately important
4500 m–7500 m 2 5 Strongly important
7500 m–14,000 m 3 7 Very strongly important
14,000 m–20,000 m 4 9 Certainly important
20,000 m <  5 2,4,6,8 Intermediate values

Vol.:(0123456789)
Research Article SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z

Table 4  Matrix A obtained by binary comparisons [44] Table 5  Random indicator n RI N RI N RI

Cri.1 Cri.2 … Criteria(n)
1 0.00 6 1.24 11 1.51
Criteria1 W1/W1 W1/W2 … W1/Wn 2 0.00 7 1.32 12 1.53
Criteria2 W2/W1 W2/W2 … W2/Wn 3 0.58 8 1.41 13 1.56
… … … … … 4 0.90 9 1.45 14 1.57
Criteria(n) Wn/W1 Wn/W2 … Wn/Wn 5 1.12 10 1.49 15 1.59

taken more than nine, clustering should be done homoge- ∑n

i=1 Ei
neously according to common features [44]. λ= (4)
n
Step 3 The weight factor is calculated.
The comparison matrix shows the importance levels of After calculating the basic value λ, the consistency indi-
factors relative to each other. But to determine the weight cator (CI) is calculated with Eq. (5).
of these factors within all factors, column vectors that make
λ−n
up the comparison matrix are used. Finally, column “B” with CI = (5)
n−1
n number and n components is created (Eq. 1).
The value of "n" in the equations is the number of fac-
aij
bij = ∑n (1) tors. Finally, the CI value is divided by the standard correc-
i_1
aij tion value which is called the random indicator (RI), shown
in Table 4, and the CR value that is called consistency ratio
“aij ” is the row and column elements of the binary com- is obtained (Eq. 6).
parison matrix. The value corresponding to the number of factors is
With the number of factors here, the more B column vec- selected from Table 5.
tors are obtained. When n number B column vectors are For example, the RI value to be used in a 3-factor com-
combined in a matrix format, the C matrix is formed. parison will be 0.58 according to Table 5.
The arithmetic mean of the row values of the matrix C
is obtained, and the W column vector weight matrix is CI
CR = (6)
obtained (Eq. 2). RI
∑n For the comparisons made by the decision-maker to be
j=1 cij
Wi = (2) consistent, the calculated CR value must be less than 0.10.
n
If the CR value is higher than 0.10, there is either a cal-
Step 4 Consistency in factor comparisons is measured. culation error in AHP or it is inconsistent in the decision-
AHP is consistent in itself. However, the accuracy of the maker comparison.
results depends on the consistency in the decision-maker’s
comparison between the factors. In order to measure the 2.2.2 Using AHP method in the study
consistency in these comparisons, CR value which is called
accuracy rate is calculated, and the consistency of the weight “A” matrix where binary comparisons were made according
matrix can be tested. Therefore, the consistency of the model to the importance of the factors selecting site in the study
is checked by comparisons between factors. The calculation area was created (Table 6). Weight factor was calculated
of the CR value is based on comparing the number of factors for each criterion. For this, the elements in each column
with a coefficient called the base value (λ). When calculat- of the binary comparison matrix were divided by the sum
ing the λ value, the D column vector is obtained from the of the column it is found (Eq. 1) and the “B” column vectors
comparison matrix A and the weight matrix of W. The basis were calculated.
value (E) for each evaluation factor is obtained from the sec- Since there were 11 factors, 11 “B” column matrices were
tion of the mutual elements of the weight column D and the created.
weight matrix of W. (Eq. 3). The arithmetic mean of these By combining the “B” column matrices, the “C” matrix
values gives the basic value (λ) for comparison (Eq. 4). was obtained (Table 7).
By taking the average of each line in the “C” matrix, the
di “W” weight matrix was created according to the Eq. (2)
Ei = (i = 1, 2, … , n) (3)
wi (Table 8). The model was developed for this study, and it
is based on the statistical weights for each variable calcu-
lated in the previous item.

Vol:.(1234567890)
SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z Research Article

Table 6  Binary comparisons of Factors C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11

criteria which affect selected
suitable areas Sunshine duration (C1) 1 1 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Solar radiation (C2) 1 1 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Slope (C3) 1/3 1/3 1 1/3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Aspect (C4) 1/3 1/3 3 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Proximity to the power line (C5) 1/5 1/5 1/2 1/3 1 1 3 3 3 3 3
Proximity to transformers (C6) 1/5 1/5 1/2 1/3 1 1 3 3 3 3 3
Distance to water resou. areas (C7) 1/5 1/5 1/2 1/3 1/3 1/3 1 1 1 1 1
Proximity to roads (C8) 1/5 1/5 1/2 1/3 1/3 1/3 1 1 1 1 1
Distance to fault line (C9) 1/5 1/5 1/2 1/3 1/3 1/3 1 1 1 1 1
Proximity to residential areas (C10) 1/5 1/5 1/2 1/3 1/3 1/3 1 1 1 1 1
Distance to mining areas (C11) 1/5 1/5 1/2 1/3 1/3 1/3 1 1 1 1 1
Consistency Rate (CR): 0.05

Table 7  “C” matrix from “B” Factors C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11

matrices
(C1) 0.25 0.25 0.22 0.31 0.27 0.27 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19
(C2) 0.25 0.25 0.22 0.31 0.27 0.27 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19
(C3) 0.08 0.08 0.07 0.03 0.11 0.11 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.08
(C4) 0.08 0.08 0.22 0.10 0.16 0.16 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12
(C5) 0.05 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.05 0.05 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12
(C6) 0.05 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.05 0.05 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12
(C7) 0.05 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04
(C8) 0.05 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04
(C9) 0.05 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04
(C10) 0.05 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04
(C11) 0.05 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04

Table 8  “W” matrix from “C” Factors C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11

matrices
Value 0.23 0.23 0.08 0.13 0.08 0.08 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04

IR = (0.23 ∗ Sunshine + 0.23 ∗ Solar radiation + 0.08 ∗ Slope Table 9  D and E matrices
D 2.90 E 12.64
created for consistency ratio
+ 0.13 ∗ Aspect + 0.08 ∗ Proximity to the power line control 2.00 8.72
+ 0.08 ∗ Proximity to transformers 0.99 12.52
+ 0.04 ∗ Distance to water surfaces 1.60 12.69
0.93 11.98
+ 0.04 ∗ Proximity to roads + 0.04
0.93 11.98
∗ Distance to fault line + 0.04 0.43 11.90
∗ Proximity to residential areas + 0.04 0.43 11.90
∗ Distance to mining areas). 0.43 11.90
(7) 0.43 11.90
0.43 11.90
According to Table 8, sunshine duration and solar radia-
tion were the highest value 23% (C1 and C2). Then there
was aspect (C4) with 13% and slope (C3) with 6%. The con-
sistency checks of the weight values and the model were comparison matrix and the “W” weight matrix were multi-
made. For this, the matrix “A” which is called the binary plied and the “D” matrix was obtained.

Vol.:(0123456789)
Research Article SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z

Using the Eq. (3), the “D” column vector elements were

divided into “W” weight matrix elements and the “E” matrix
was created (Table 9).
Because there are eleven factors in the study, the value
of λ was calculated using the Eq. (4) (by taking n = 11).
By dividing the sum of each element of the matrix “E” by
n = 11, the value of λ was found to be 11.82. With Eq. 5,
consistency indicator “CI” value was calculated as 0.082.
According to the random indicator (RI) table, in an
eleven-factor comparison, the RI value is seen as 1.51.
Accordingly, it is seen that the consistency rate (CR)
value obtained by dividing the “C”I value by 1.51 is 0.05.
This value is well less than the critical limit of 0.10, which
indicates that the model installed is consistent.
The "kriging method" was used to obtain the solar radi-
ation distribution map in the study area. The reason for this
is that there is no solar radiation data for all regions and
areas in Nigde.
Kriging is an interpolation method that estimates the
optimum values of the data at other points by using the
data obtained from the closest known points.
Kriging interpolation method is a technique in which
unbiased estimation of positional changes at sampled
points using semi-variogram structural properties is opti-
mally made [45].
It is possible to see examples of the kriging method in
many studies (Yang [46], Nam and Hur [47]).

Fig. 1  Study area boundaries

3 Results
3.2 Analysis
3.1 Study area
3.2.1 Slope analysis
Nigde is located in Cappadocia of the south-east of Tur-
key’s Central Anatolia region. Nigde is neighbouring
Different studies (Garni and Wasthi [41], Jun et al. [9]) sug-
Aksaray, Nevsehir, Kayseri and Konya Provinces, is sepa-
gest different slope values for the site selection in areas
rated from Mersin Province with Bolkar Mountains in the
where solar energy will be built. Hang et al. [48] stated
south, and is separated from Adana Province with the
that the most suitable slope value is between 1 and 3%.
natural borders formed by Aladaglar from the south-east
For the site selection, areas that have over 3% slope are
and east (Fig. 1).
not suitable.
The high solar energy potential of the Nigde allows the
However, in cases where there are no suitable areas
build of the solar plants. Nigde had 10 solar power plants
with these slope values,However, in cases where there
as of 2019.
are no suitable areas with these slope values, Miller and
The lowest power of the solar plants is 1.00 MW, and
Lumby [49] stated that areas that have on 5% slope can be
the highest power is 45.00 MW. For the 2020 year, 2 solar
selected. Various studies (Gasparovic and Gasparovic 2019
power plants have been just built [19].
[50]) state that 0% slope areas are not suitable for the build
All existing solar power plants are located in Bor and
of solar power plants.
central districts of the Nigde. The location and limits of the
In this study, the areas with a score of 3, 4 and 5 are suit-
study area are shown in Fig. 1.
able for the build of solar power plants in terms of slope
(Fig. 2).

Vol:.(1234567890)
SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z Research Article

3.2.2 Aspect analysis

Solar power plants should be built in areas that have not

shade.
While east, west and south should be preferred, other
aspects should not be preferred.
According to Miller and Lumby [49], flat and south
aspect should be preferred for the site selection of power
plants. Areas with a south aspect provide high sunshine
according to different seasonal conditions. Therefore,
south aspect is preferred for the solar plants. Aspect maps
are created using DEM (digital elevation model). Northern
areas were removed from the areas for aspect analysis, and
suitable areas are determined as suitable and not suitable
and shown on the map (Figs. 4 and 5).

3.2.3 Traffic network analysis

Fig. 2  Slope point map
According to the environmental impact assessment of the
relevant ministry [51], the inappropriateness of the areas
within 100 m of safety lane should be considered. Since
the proximity to the traffic networks provide (suitable)

Fig. 3  Slope map

Slope values were divided into two classes as less than

5% slope (suitable areas) and more than 5% slope (unsuit-
able areas) (Fig. 3). Fig. 4  Aspect map

Vol.:(0123456789)
Research Article SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z

Fig. 5  Aspect point map Fig. 6  Traffic network map

advantage, the nearest areas were determined as 5 points Power plants to be built in areas remote to the transformer
(the most suitable). Since the distance to the traffic net- cause energy loss and decrease efficiency. In the study, the
works increases the cost and build processes, these areas nearest areas were determined as 5 points, and remote
were determined as 1 points (the least suitable). The map areas were determined. The map that was created for the
that was created for the traffic network is shown in Fig. 6. transformers is shown in Fig. 8.

3.2.4 Power line analysis 3.2.6 Solar energy potential analysis

The proximity of the solar power plants to the energy Information about the sunshine duration and solar radia-
transmission line provides an advantage in terms of tion was obtained from the stations of the General Direc-
efficiency. torate of Meteorology [36].
The solar power plants to be built in remote areas to These stations are not available in the entire study area.
power lines increase energy loss and decrease efficiency. Therefore, the kriging method was used in order to map
In order to the transfer cost of the energy to be suitable, the sunshine duration and solar radiation of the entire
the nearest areas were determined as 5 points, and remote study area.
areas were determined as 1 point. The map that was cre- The optimum value for solar energy potential is deter-
ated for the power lines is shown in Fig. 7. mined to be 2,500 h/year. All districts of the Nigde Prov-
ince have a sunshine duration above this value. The map
3.2.5 Transformer analysis that was created for the solar energy potential is shown
in Fig. 9.
The proximity of the solar power plants to be built to the
transformer provides an advantage in terms of efficiency.

Vol:.(1234567890)
SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z Research Article

Fig. 7  Power line map Fig. 8  Transformer analysis map

3.2.7 Water source analysis As it gets closer to the fault lines, suitability decreases.
A classification map of the distance to the fault line was
If solar plants build near to the rivers, their efficiency created (Fig. 11).
decreases due to fog, evaporation, humidity and river
flood risk. 3.2.9 Residential analysis
It has been determined that the solar plants will be built
remote from the water sources. According to Obit [52], solar panel plants should be
Areas that are remote from the waters sources were located in least 5 km and at most 10 km from the residen-
evaluated as most suitable (5 points) and nearest areas tial areas. According to the environmental impact assess-
were evaluated as least suitable (1 point). ment of the relevant ministry, it is not suitable for built the
The map that was created for the water source is shown solar power plants within 500 m in the residential areas.
in Fig. 10. The areas up to 5 points (most suitable), 4 points, 3 points
and 2 points were determined to be suitable for build-
3.2.8 Fault line analysis ing a solar power plant in terms of residential areas. The
determined distances are visualized with settlement areas
Fault lines are criteria that should be taken into account for conformity map (Fig. 12).
the solar power plant site selection since the study area is
located in a tectonically active area. 3.2.10 Mine areas analysis
Areas that are remote from the fault lines are more suit-
able for the build of solar plants. Solar power plants should be built in remote areas from
the mining areas. The purpose of building the panels

Vol.:(0123456789)
Research Article SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z

Fig. 9  Sunshine duration map

Fig. 10  Water map

remote to mining areas is to prevent solar plants from

being affected by dust and pollution that may occur by
drilling, digging, throwing and filling of mines and quar- determined by using Eq. (7), a single raster layer was cre-
ries. The areas (suitable) distance from the mining areas on ated for the suitable areas. Suitable areas where a solar
the map are shown (Fig. 13). power plant could be built were determined in the study
area.
3.2.11 Solar radiation analysis However, residential areas, water surfaces and agricul-
tural areas were removed from the map that was obtained
According to the data obtained from the General Direc- before. Since the area sizes and populations of the resi-
torate of Renewable Energy (REGD), the lowest radiation dential areas will vary, it has been removed from the map.
level from the sun is between 1500 and 1550 kWh/m 2 Agricultural areas were removed from the map due
in Ulukisla district, and the highest solar radiation from to the ecological and economic contributions that they
the sun is between 1750 and 1800 kwh/m2 in Camardi provided. Land-use/land-cover map was created for these
district in Nigde. Average annual solar radiation is 1650 reason. Land-cover/land-use map is shown Fig. 15. The
kWh/m 2 in Nigde [53]. The solar potential of Nigde is map that shows the most suitable areas for solar panels in
given in Fig. 14 [54]. Nigde is given in Fig. 16.
The areas where the solar power plant can be built in
the Nigde Province, Euclidean distance for each layer, 3.3 Evaluation of the study area in terms
sunshine duration, solar radiation, slope, aspect, proxim- of the build of solar panels
ity to the power line, proximity to transformers, distance
to water resource areas, distance to fault line, proximity Suitable areas where a solar power plant could be built
to residential areas, distance to mining areas, and prox- were determined in the study area. As a result of the
imity to road were obtained and shown in the maps. As analysis, the most suitable areas to build a solar power
a result of combining the layers classified in the intervals plant are the north-west and eastern part of Nigde.

Vol:.(1234567890)
SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z Research Article

Fig. 11  Fault line map

Fig. 12  Residential map
However, it has been determined that the middle parts
of the study area are not suitable for the build of solar
plants. We can say that central district can be selected due to
When the study area was examined for the solar panel factors such as accessibility, cost and sun. However, the
build, the highest score was 4 point. According to the central district should not be preferred for the solar plants
results, 5 points and 1 point could not be obtained from to be built from now on, in order to obtain higher effi-
the study area. When the districts with the highest or ciency from the plants and no less damage to the natural
lowest eligibility in selecting the location for solar plants environment.
are examined, there is no suitable place for solar plant There are some problems regarding the site selection of
in Camardi district. solar panels in Nigde Province. The topography of Nigde
After Camardi district, the area with the least suitable Province has a wavy structure. Therefore, it is very difficult
place for solar plants is Ciftlik district. The district with to find a flat area except for the central and Bor districts.
the highest potential solar plant areas is Ulukisla. With This causes the cost to increase. In other districts, the top-
the field study conducted in Nigde, 8 of the 10 solar ographical structure of the areas other than residential
power plants were determined to be in suitable areas areas is very wavy.
determined on the map. Therefore, most of the existing panels are located in
Thus, it was determined that correct results were central and Bor districts for various reasons such as cost
obtained from the final map. However, all of the existing and labour. However, as a result of the analyses, it was
solar plants are located in Bor and central districts of the determined that these two districts are less suitable than
Nigde. According to the results of the analysis, it is suitable other districts.
to build solar plants in Bor district. However, the central In particular, Ulukisla district has the highest values in
district has very little suitable place for the build of solar terms of solar potential in Nigde. Failure to make panels in
plants. For this reason, solar plants to be built to Nigde these areas only due to topography causes losses in terms
later on should be constructed in Ulukisla district. of energy efficiency. Suitable areas should be created for

Vol.:(0123456789)
Research Article SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z

Fig. 15  Land cover of Nigde

Fig. 13  Mining map

Fig. 14  Solar radiation map of Nigde

the built of the panels with new planning studies and

engineering calculations (such as excavation–fill) to be
made in these areas. Although these plans are high in
terms of initial cost, considering the value of the energy
to be obtained, these costs will be worthless. Although
Fig. 16  Areas where solar panels can be built

Vol:.(1234567890)
SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z Research Article

this topographic structure of the Nigde causes problems environmentally friendly as their source is both abundant
in terms of built, it offers some advantages. and a continuous and renewable energy source.
First of all, due to this topographic structure, the sun- AHP (analytical hierarchy process) method was used to
shine duration and solar radiation rate of Nigde are high. evaluate the factors in the study. The method was found
As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that suitable in terms of taking into account more than one
37.46% of the Nigde has south, south-east, south-west and factor, revealed the relationships between the factors
flat aspects. Considering that in particular the south views quantitatively and calculated the consistency rate using
area is a region with a lot of sun, we can say that Nigde various analyses. However, the get difficult of mathemati-
Province has a great importance in terms of solar energy cal process with the increase in factors was determined as
potential. The province of Nigde is in a region that has a the deficient features of the method.
"valley" appearance as an urban silhouette. Therefore, in This result was compared with the previous stud-
particular high areas get a lot of sun. Using solar panels for ies. Kum et al. [7] stated that the AHP method suitable
built in these areas will provide serious gains in terms of for solar panels site selection in their study. Garni and
energy costs not only for the province of Nigde, but also Awasthi [41] used the AHP method in their study on the
for its immediate surroundings. site selection of solar panels in Saudi Arabia and con-
Although the energy cost of Nigde is not as much as cluded that the method is suitable for such studies. In
Istanbul or Ankara, which are large metropolitan cities in this respect, this study is similar to previous studies on
Turkey, urbanization causes increase to energy cost. There- the subject. However, other studies did not state any
fore, with the increasing number of buildings, traffic and results regarding the number of factors. This study dif-
industrial facilities near the city, the energy cost in Nigde fers from other studies in this respect.
is increasing. Despite the increase in energy costs and the In this study, 11 factors were used to determine the
high potential of Nigde in terms of solar energy, the num- most suitable areas for solar panels. When the studies
ber of solar panels in Nigde and the number of incentives on the subject are examined, the number of factors is
and investments for the panels are quite insufficient. There sufficient. Solangi et al. [55] used 6 factors in their study
are 10 solar panels in Nigde Province. Ankara which is the such as orography,  environment, climate, economy,
capital city of Turkey has solar radiation rate of 1,473 kWh/ topography and social criteria. These factors were also
year, according to which the Nigde potential is quite low used in this study.
(proportion of the province of Nigde solar radiation 1,620 Wiguna et al. [56] used 6 factors in their study such
kWh/year) [19]. as distance to residential area, slope, aspect, distance
Despite this disadvantage, there are a total of 50 solar to road, distance to energy sources and solar radiation.
panels in Ankara Province. Although they are similar in These factors were used within the scope of the study.
terms of topography and climate, this difference between Therefore, the factors used in the study are quantita-
the number of panels causes losses in terms of energy tively and qualitatively suitable. Although very few, we
efficiency. can say that rainfall data are also used in some studies
We can say that this difference is due to reasons such on the subject. Rainfall data were not used in this study.
as the fact that Nigde has less industry compared to other This is one of the shortcomings of the study, and this
provinces and its population is less than other regions. is entirely related to the region that was studied. Nigde
However, these factors are not used for the site selection Province is located in an area that as not much rainfall.
of solar panels in any study, including this study. These data were not included in the factors, as the use
For this reason, the solar potential of the Nigde should of precipitation data was not considered to affect the
be considered, not the population density or its industrial, result. The biggest problem in terms of climate for the
and planning should be made accordingly. Nigde is "frost" in the winter months. This is a problem
in the whole city. Therefore, it was not included in the
study. The most important factors that affect the site
4 Conclusion selection of solar panels were the sunshine duration and
solar radiation with a rate of 23%. Sunshine duration was
In today’s world, energy consumption is increasing day by the factor with the highest rate in the previous studies.
day. Societies have to increase their competitiveness, grow Tunç et al. [57] in their study in Istanbul, Turkey, found
their economies and improve their quality of life for their the sunshine duration as the most important factor.
level of technological development. Production of clean Also, similar results have been found in many studies.
energy is of great importance in ensuring technologi- However, it should not be forgotten that these results
cal development and sustainability. Solar energy, which will change with the characteristics of the region and the
is among the renewable energy sources, is stated to be ratio of the number of factors. This ratio may decrease or

Vol.:(0123456789)
Research Article SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z

increase depending on the number of factors that will be As of 2019, Turkey also reached 1,362.60 MW of built
used. It should not be forgotten that these values belong solar power. 108  MW energy is produced from solar
to this study, since the climatic characteristics and topo- energy plants located in Nigde Province [19]. It has
graphic structure of the region will change these results. been determined that 18% of annual consumption in
The study has scientific innovations as well as defi- Nigde Province originates from solar plants. "Active use
ciencies. In previous studies, land use/land cover was of the Renewable Energy systems transformation pro-
not among the factors. In this study, it was determined ject" statement is included in the strategic plan report of
that the land use/land cover is an important factor for Nigde Municipality covering 2015–2019 [58]. This study
the build of solar panels, and the land use/land cover will be the reference for the solar plants to be made from
can change the results. When other factors such as the now on.
distance to transformer centres and roads are taken into Landscape design elements should be considered
account besides the land use/land cover, the results will during the positioning of the solar plants. The areas that
be changed. The determination of the analyses and will allow solar plants to get sun should not be covered
the suitability map made in the study with the existing with vegetative elements. The south facade, which will
status of the land show the accuracy of the results. The allow the plants to take the sun, must be open. In order
determined areas will contribute to the economy of the to remove the visual pollution that will occur as a result of
country and meet the energy needs of this region. positioning the plants, the areas outside the south facade
Solar energy, which has become a new research area should be covered with vegetative elements.
and at the same time an energy source for the countries, It may be suggested that the areas next to the elec-
will help to make site selection studies based on multi- trical transformers should be left blank for the future
criteria. Because, since in recent years, Turkey’s policy solar plants, to reduce the build cost of the transmission
towards renewable energy consequently arises ques- cables to the substations, which will allow this energy
tions that need to be established where will be the solar to be stored and distributed after electricity generation.
PV power plants, this study will serve as an example to As a result of the meeting with experts, 20 acres of
this question for decision-making support system. land should be considered for each 1 MW solar plant,
In order to benefit from renewable energy at the high- and the area usage planning should be done according
est level, it is necessary to use GIS more effectively and to this criterion.
to expand the field of work in future studies. In addi- Comparing environmental impact assessment of solar
tion, the results of the energy values obtained from the power plants to other power plants, it has been deter-
solar panels to be built in the suggested areas should mined to have less impact than other plants. The visual
be measured, and the accuracy of the study should be effect of the power plants is high and the noise effect is
clearly demonstrated. One of the shortcomings of the almost non-existent.
study is that the results obtained in this study could not These evaluations show that solar power plants do
be applied on the land. not produce clean energy completely, they have various
Studies are made to these issues in Turkey for more environmental effects, but as a result of comparisons, solar
metropolitan cities. The fact that this study was carried power plants have less effect than thermal power plants.
out in underdeveloped cities such as Nigde will be an It is an acceptable fact that the energy produced, regard-
example for future studies. less of its source, has various effects on the environment.
When Nigde Solar Energy power plants are evaluated The discourses, policies and practices regarding the
in terms of location selection efficiency criteria, it is seen fact that solar energy generation systems are a completely
that the location selection decision is suitable. clean energy source do not match. In this respect, it is
When the suitable locations are evaluated in terms recommended that solar energy is preferred in terms of
of environmental impact, it has been determined that energy production, considering it to be a cleaner energy
the agricultural areas will not be affected by the power production source compared to fossil fuel power plants,
plants since the land-use capability 1, 2, 3 and 4 class. less destruction to the environment and being renew-
The situation that is expected to be the most ecologi- able. Nevertheless, it is very important to evaluate the
cally affected by solar power plants is that the birds are environmental dimensions of solar power plants and to
affected by the reflected light from the plants. Nigde is make applications that will minimize their environmental
located on the seasonal migration route of the birds. impact and to make location selection decisions [59].
However, it is expected that this effect will be at the
minimum level since the plants are located in remote
areas to the river and lake areas. Author contributions  O.S. took part in the creation, analysis and inter-
pretation of the maps and wrote the article.

Vol:.(1234567890)
SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z Research Article

Compliance with ethical standards  and energy efficiency. Akdeniz University, Landscape Architec-
ture Department Doctoral Thesis, Antalya, Turkey, 253 p.
13. Bicer Y, Dincer I (2017) Life cycle evaluation of hydrogen
Conflict of interest  No potential conflict of interest was reported by
and other potential fuels for aircrafts. Int J Hydrogen Energy
the authors.
42(16):10722–10738
14. Jaffery SHI, Ali L, Khan M, Qureshi HM, Khan M, Ahsan Z, Khan HA
Open Access  This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri- (2015) Development and testing of a solar cell test chamber for
bution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adap- performance evaluation of solar cells. In: 2015 50th International
tation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as universities power engineering conference (UPEC). IEEE, pp 1–4
long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the 15. Abas N, Kalair A, Khan N (2015) Review of fossil fuels and future
source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate energy technologies. Futures 69:31–49
if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this 16. Kabir E, Kumar P, Kumar S, Adelodun AA, Kim KH (2018) Solar
article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless energy: potential and future prospects. Renew Sustain Energy
indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not Rev 82:894–900
included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended 17. Campana PE, Wästhage L, Nookuea W, Tan Y, Yan J (2019) Opti-
use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted mization and assessment of floating and floating-tracking PV
use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright systems integrated in on-and off-grid hybrid energy systems.
holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creat​iveco​mmons​ Sol Energy 177:782–795
.org/licen​ses/by/4.0/. 18. Cebeci S (2017) Evaluation of the potential electricity produc-
tion from solar energy in Turkey. General Directorate of Eco-
nomic Sectors and Coordination, Master Thesis, p, 20.
19. Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey. (2019).
Energy Report of Turkey. https​://www.enerj​i.gov.tr/
References 20. Bağcı E (2019) Renewable energy potential in Turkey, produc-
tion, consumption and current account balance relationship. R
1. Asakereh A, Soleymani M, Sheikhdavoodi MJ (2017) A GIS- & S-Res Stud Anatolia J 2(4):101–117
based Fuzzy-AHP method for the evaluation of solar farms 21. Kaynar NK (2020) Potential of solar energy from renewable
locations: case study in Khuzestan province. Iran Sol Energy energy sources in Amasya Province. Bilge Int J Sci Technol Res
155:342–353 4(2):48–54
2. Huang W, Chen W, Anandarajah G (2017) The role of technology 22. Klepacka AM, Florkowski WJ, Meng T (2018) Clean, accessible,
diffusion in a decarbonizing world to limit global warming to and cost-saving: Reasons for rural household investment in solar
well below 2 C: An assessment with application of Global TIMES panels in Poland. Resour Conserv Recycl 139:338–350
model. Appl Energy 208:291–301 23. Bayrakçı HC, Gezer T (2019) Cost analysis of a solar power plant:
3. Fthenakis V, Alsema E (2006) Photovoltaics energy payback the case of Aydın Province. J Tech Sci 9(2):46–54
times, greenhouse gas emissions and external costs: 2004–early 24. Baka M, Manganiello P, Soudris D, Catthoor F (2019) A cost-ben-
2005 status. Prog Photovolt Res Appl 14(3):275–280 efit analysis for reconfigurable PV modules under shading. Sol
4. Finance BNE (2018) Global Trends in Renewable Energy Invest- Energy 178:69–78
ment Report 2018, FS-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & 25. Strielkowski W, Volkova E, Pushkareva L, Streimikiene D (2019)
Sustainable Energy Finance, Germany, p 86 Innovative policies for energy efficiency and the use of renewa-
5. Renewable Energy Policy (2018). REN21 Renewables 2018 global bles in households. Energies 12(7):1392
status report. Retrieved from https​://www.ren21​.net/gsr-2019/ 26. Da Cunha SRL, de Aguiar JLB (2020) Phase change materials and
chapt​ers/chapt​er_01/chapt​er_01/ energy efficiency of buildings: A review of knowledge. J Energy
6. Kumbur H, Özer Z, Özsoy HD, Avcı ED (2015) Comparison of the Storage 27:101083
potential environmental impact of conventional and renewable 27. Kocaman AS, Ozyoruk E, Taneja S, Modi V (2020) A stochastic
energy sources in Turkey. Yeksem 2015, III. Renew Energy Res framework to evaluate the impact of agricultural load flexibil-
Symp Exhib 1:19–21 ity on the sizing of renewable energy systems. Renew Energy
7. Gülşen K, Sönmez ME, Karabaş M (2019) Determination of solar 152:1067–1078
energy potential in Gaziantep Province using analytical hierar- 28. Koc A, Turk S, Şahin G (2019) Multi-criteria of wind-solar site
chy process method (AHP). Geogr Rev 39:61–72 selection problem using a GIS-AHP-based approach with an
8. Raugei M, Fullana-i-Palmer P, Fthenakis V (2012) The energy application in Igdir Province/Turkey. Environ Sci Pollut Res
return on energy investment (EROI) of photovoltaics: Method- 26(31):32298–32310
ology and comparisons with fossil fuel life cycles. Energy Policy 29. Wang W, Shi Y, Zhang C, Hong S, Shi L, Chang J, Wang P (2019)
45:576–582 Simultaneous production of fresh water and electricity via mul-
9. Jung J, Han S, Kim B (2019) Digital numerical map-oriented tistage solar photovoltaic membrane distillation. Nature Com-
estimation of solar energy potential for site selection of pho- mun 10(1):1–9
tovoltaic solar panels on national highway slopes. Appl Energy 30. Alsabbagh M (2019) Public perception toward residential solar
242:57–68 panels in Bahrain. Energy Rep 5:253–261
10. Lu H, Zhao W (2018) Effects of particle sizes and tilt angles on 31. Suri D (2020) Site selection framework for mini-grids in develop-
dust deposition characteristics of a ground-mounted solar pho- ing countries: an overview. Electric J 33(7):106803
tovoltaic system. Appl Energy 220:514–526 32. Geçen R (2019) Determination of areas of solar energy
11. Philibert C, Frankl P, Tam C, Abdelilah Y, Bahar H, Marchais Q, potential and solar power plant in Hatay Province. Soc Sci
Wiesner H (2014) Technology roadmap: solar photovoltaic 14(6):3031–3054
energy. International Energy Agency, Paris, France, 60 p 33. Sarsıcı N (2020) Determination of areas where solar power
12. Soydan O (2018) Evaluation of the landscape design of Niğde plants can be established in Karabük province by Multi-Criteria
Ömer Halisdemir University campus in terms of lighting quality

Vol.:(0123456789)
Research Article SN Applied Sciences (2021) 3:41 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-04112-z

Decision Analysis, Karabük University, Department of Geogra- 48. Hang LAN (2008) Analysis of zone safety degree of slopes and
phy, Master Thesis, 193 p., Karabük Turkey. its application based on FLAC3D. J China Univ Min Technol
34. Oral B, Sağlam S, Mellit A (2020, April) Analysis of a Building- 37(4):570–574
Mounted Wind-Solar Hybrid Power System in Urban Residential 49. Miller A, Lumby B (2012) Utility scale solar power plants: a guide
Areas: The Case Study of Istanbul. In: International conference for developers and investors. Guidelines book written for IFC.
on electronic engineering and renewable energy, Springer, Sin- World Bank Group, New Delhi, India
gapore, pp 729–737 50. Gašparović I, Gašparović M (2019) Determining optimal solar
35. Keskin A (2019) Nigde Province Solar Power Plant Modelling and power plant locations based on remote sensing and GIS meth-
Evaluation of Performance Parameters. Gazi University, Institute ods: A case study from Croatia. Remote Sens 11(12):1481
of Science, Master’s Thesis, 128 p., Ankara, Turkey. 51. Ministry of Environment and Urban (2016). Environmental
36. General Directorate of Meteorology (2019) Chart of Antalya City assessment report. https​://csb.gov.tr/
rainfall intensity over time. Ankara: Republic of Turkey, Ministry 52. Obut Z (2016) Determination of the area which solar plant will
of Agriculture and Forestry, General Directorate of Meteorology. be established in Goksun by GIS method. Kahramanmaraş Sütçü
37. Bokaie M, Zarkesh MK, Arasteh PD, Hosseini A (2016) Assessment Imam University, Department of Geography Institute Of Social
of urban heat island based on the relationship between land Sciences, Master Thesis, 71 p., Kahramanmaraş, Turkey.
surface temperature and land use/land cover in Tehran. Sustain 53. Özdemir S, Şahin G (2018) Multi-criteria decision-making in the
Cities Soc 23:94–104 location selection for a solar PV power plant using AHP. Meas-
38. Yang C, He X, Yan F, Yu L, Bu K, Yang J, Zhang S (2017) Map- urement 129:218–226
ping the influence of land use/land cover changes on the urban 54. Sake T (2015) Analysis of wind and solar energy technologies
heat island effect—A case study of Changchun. China Sustain and evaluating the applicability of the province of Nigde. Grad-
9(2):312 uate School of Natural and Applied Sciences / Environmental
39. Dağdeviren M, Tamer E (2001) Analytical hierarchy process and Engineering Department Master Thesis, 117 p.
use of 0–1 goal programming methods in supplier selection. 55. Solangi YA, Shah SAA, Zameer H, Ikram M, Saracoglu BO (2019)
Gazi Univ J Eng Archit Fac 16(1):41–52 Assessing the solar PV power project site selection in Pakistan:
40. Toksarı M (2007) Determining the target market for the furniture Based on AHP-fuzzy VIKOR approach. Environ Sci Pollut Res
industry in the Aegean region using analytical hierarchy process 26(29):30286–30302
approach. Manag Econ 14(1):171–180 56. Wiguna KA, Sarno R, Ariyani NF (2016) Optimization solar farm
41. Al Garni HZ, Awasthi A (2017) Solar PV power plant site selec- site selection using multi-criteria decision-making fuzzy AHP
tion using a GIS-AHP based approach with application in Saudi and PROMETHEE: case study in Bali. In: 2016 International con-
Arabia. Appl Energy 206:1225–1240 ference on information & communication technology and sys-
42. Çolak M, Kaya İ (2020) Multi-criteria evaluation of energy storage tems (ICTS). IEEE, pp 237–243.
technologies based on hesitant fuzzy information: a case study 57. Tunc A, Tuncay G, Alacakanat Z, Sevimli FS (2019) Gis based solar
for Turkey. J Energy Storage 28:101211 power plants site selection using analytic hierarchy process
43. Saaty TL (1977) A scaling method for priorities in hierarchical (Ahp) in Istanbul Turkey. Int Arch Photogramm Remote Sens
structures. J Math Psychol 15(3):234–281 Spat Inf Sci XLII-2/W13:1353–1360
44. Dilekçi S, Marangoz AM, Ateşoglu A (2019) Zonguldak and Eregli 58. Sak T, Gönen Ç, Kara E (2019) Expansion of solar power plants
forest management directorates of forestry fire risk areas deter- and potential of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Niğde
mination. J Geomatik 6(1):44–53 Province. Fırat Univ J Eng Sci 31(2):327–335
45. Yaprak S, Arslan E (2008) Kriging method and interpolation of 59. Xu Y, Li J, Tan Q, Peters AL, Yang C (2018) Global status of recy-
geoit heights. J Geod Jeoinformation 98:36–42 cling waste solar panels: a review. Waste Manage 75:450–458
46. Yang D (2018) Spatial prediction using kriging ensemble. Sol
Energy 171:977–982 Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to
47. Nam S, Hur J (2019) A hybrid spatio-temporal forecasting of solar jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
generating resources for grid integration. Energy 177:503–510

Vol:.(1234567890)