China Wind Farm Suitability Analysis

The above maps were made by Mwahaki King in May 2016, using raster data in ArcGIS. Mwahaki King performed by an unweighted and a weighted suitability analysis to determine optimal locations for a wind farm facility in China, north of Beijing. In both suitability analyses the suitability of a wind farm facility was dependent on the following criteria:

1. The site needed to be close to high wind areas
2. It must be close to existing power lines
3. It must be far from the The Great Wall of China so as not to disrupt tourism
4. It must be on fairly level land i.e. a low slope is preferable

In the unweighted suitability analysis, these criteria were assessed on a system of 1 - 5, with the lowest score and thus worst location having a score of 4 and the best location having a score of 20.

In the weighted analysis, these criteria were assessed by importance. Distance to high wind areas was deemed to be the most important and weighted at 50%. Second, was distance to power lines, weighted at 25%. Third, was distance from The Great Wall weighted at 12.5%. The final factor was slope, also weighted at 12.5%. This produced a grid of 1 - 5. One being the least ideal location for a wind farm facility and five being the best.

Data Sources:
ESRI
Gfk (Tufts University GIS has a license for this data and these maps were made as a part of Tufts University GIS coursework)
National Renewable Energy Lab