The site selection of wind energy power plant using satellite remote sensing and CA-Markov model from terrain roughness perspective

Abstract

One of the crucial challenges in the development of wind energy is to choose the suitable place to install a power plant. This research represented a fast and economical method to prioritize the potential areas in terms of terrain roughness using Landsat satellite images. Firstly, multitemporal detection of the study area was done using SVM. The dynamic nature of land use with time was considered and the map simulated by the CA-Markov in 2030 was used to detect the land cover. The predicted model was integrated with a roughness table and roughness length and class maps were produced. The results showed that there are 48.71 ha of integrated lands in the northwest located in the coastline with the best potential to construct a power plant. About 259.84 ha of coastline were placed in the next priorities. An area of 2549.36 ha of agricultural lands with a maximum roughness length of 0.25 m was suggested for installing wind turbines due to the absence of obstacles and being open. The findings also can be useful as a database in modeling the wind speed near the hub of high turbines and in creation of a roughness rose for wind site.