Identifying optimal sites for grid-connected photovoltaic power plants in Birjand County

South Khorasan is a less developed region in Iran and due to long distance to the center of the country and being located at the endpoint of energy transmission networks, energy transfer to this province is unstable and expensive. Hence, South Khorasan is a suitable region for the deployment of renewable energy (RE) technologies. Solar energy has a higher priority among other RE-based resources in this province because of the climatic and geographical conditions of this region. In this research, the optimal sites for PV power plants in Birjand County are determined.
First, the set of factors and criteria influencing the site selection of PV power plants was defined. Having prepared and processed spatial data and maps, unsuitable areas were eliminated using Boolean logic model. Remaining areas were rated based on technical, socio-economic, and environmental criteria by means of different fuzzy membership functions. Then, these rated areas were mapped. To identify the optimal sites for the on-grid installations of PVs, fuzzified maps were overlaid by fuzzy gamma operator. Finally, the pixels of the final map were classified into five groups based on their fuzzy values. The results show that 0.5 percent of Birjand County areas are optimal for the establishment of PV power plants.