Modelling of site evaluation for wind farms in GIS. Implementation on Zakynthos island.

With the direct aim of the Greek energy sector to comply with the European directives on the development of RES, but also with the aim of creating an energy mix independent of external sources, Greece will implement a set of energy projects. However, their development carries risks, as the financial viability of these projects is not guaranteed. Sustainable development is necessary, aiming the most efficient acquisition of goods with respect for the natural environment and the cultural background of each region. In the present work a Wind Farm siting methodology is presented and a model is developed in GIS environment that applies it. The basis, on which the methodology was developed on, is the current Greek legislation, the European directives as well as the scientific literature. A siting methodology has been developed that can respond effectively to the diversity of characteristics of the various geographical parts of Greece. In summary, the methodology is divided into three sub-sections: Production of Exclusion Areas, Study Area Evaluation and Multi-Criteria Analysis. The first sub-section excludes all the incompatible areas indicated by the legislation, the second sub-section evaluates the study area with 8 techno-economic and environmental criteria and the last section applies a Multi-Criteria Analysis with weights for each criterion. The output of the model execution can be used to evaluate already implemented Wind Farms and the licensing applications for future projects. The model is executed with a study area on the island of Zakynthos and the outputs are presented in the present study aiming not only to define the optimal siting for a Wind Farm, but also to make the methodology applied by the model understandable