A novel two-stage multicriteria decision-making approach for selecting solar farm sites: A case study

The Baltic region relies heavily on imported fossil fuels and strongly emphasizes renewable energy development. However, certain obstacles, such as site selection, hinder solar energy development in this region. Therefore, major energy stakeholders must identify optimal solar photovoltaic construction locations. The present study endeavored to conduct a comprehensive and meticulous review of pertinent literature published from 2013 to 2023 to identify critical factors that influence site selection and look into various methodologies employed in this domain. Later, a two-stage approach was used for the first time to identify the most suitable locations among 39 potential cities in the Baltic region for constructing solar PV farms. In the first stage, Data envelopment analysis (DEA) models were used to filter out the areas with the highest potential by measuring their efficiency indices using temperature, wind speed, humidity, precipitation, and air pressure as inputs and sunshine hours, elevation, and irradiation as outputs. Subsequently, six selected evaluation criteria were used to prioritize the locations with solar energy potential. In the second stage, CRiteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC)Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was used to determine the criteria's objective weights and rank potential sites for the research case study. The results indicate that 25 locations in the Baltic region are suitable for building solar farms, with specific photovoltaic power output being the most significant criterion that impacts solar site selection. Furthermore, by excluding Gross domestic product (GDP) and labor force from the analysis, the results can align with the Global Solar Atlas's reports.