Site Suitability Analysis for Solar Energy Farms in Enugu State, Using GIS and Remote Sensing

International audience Identifying suitable sites for renewable energy deployment poses a technical challenge, demanding an approach considering various factors; technical, physical, economic, social, environmental, and political. Leveraging tools like Geographic Information System (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) becomes imperative for site selection, offering a comprehensive framework integrating high-resolution remote sensing data. GIS, a potent technological ally, empowers decision-makers with geospatial insights critical for renewable energy development. Therefore, the study aimed at a site suitability analysis for solar energy farms in Enugu State, Nigeria, with a view to identify suitable locations for harvesting renewable energy such as Solar energy. Its objectives were to: establish the factors needed for mapping Solar Energy potential in the study area; classify the established factors according to their level of suitability; calculate the reliability index of the classified factors and to determine the Solar Energy potential areas using analytical hierarchical process and weighted linear combination. The results were classified according to their levels of suitability. The high suitable areas for solar development in Enugu State covered 1000.4 km2, with a percentage coverage of 13.39%. the moderate suitability for solar development covered 2605.50km2 with a percentage coverage of 33.82%. lastly, the low suitable areas for solar development covered 4066.6km2 with a percentage coverage of 52.79%, the study area. The study's approach is recommended to serve as a basis for making location suitability decisions for siting similar renewable energy sources in other regions of Nigeria.