Event date:
Feb 1 2021 4:00 pm

Spatial Analysis of optimal locations suitable for Agri-voltaic potential in Punjab (Pakistan) Using GIS approach

Supervisor
Dr. Nauman Zafar Butt
Student
Saleh Habib
Venue
Zoom Meetings (Online)
Event
MS Synopsis defense
Abstract
With rapid increase in demand of sustainable energy and a constant consumption of fossil fuels at an alarming rate, various techniques of harnessing clean and cheap power are being researched and implemented throughout the world. In Pakistan, like rest of the world, there is a remarkable increase in electricity demand expected in the coming decade. Moreover, a significant population in Pakistan has zero or intermittent access to the national grid. This gap between supply and demand of energy needs to be met in a cost-effective and climate-friendly manner so that current and future generations can benefit. Solar energy is one of the types of renewable energy which is abundant in Pakistan. With the extensive advancements in field of photovoltaics it has now become possible to use solar energy as a cost-effective resource for electricity production. Nevertheless, at utility scale PV plant installation requires a considerable amount of land area as well as other important factors such as type of land, local weather, proximity to transmission lines, amount of solar irradiation at a specific site etc. on which the energy production and capacity factor depends. Since a vast part of Punjab and Sindh consists of fertile land, land use conflict can be an important issue between agriculture against the PV plant installation. One way to overcome this is using agrivoltaic technique. It involves installation of PV plants at croplands. The benefit is that same land may be used for agricultural as well as energy production purposes. The purpose of this study is to identify suitable site selection for installation of PV plants as agrivoltaic using geographical information Systems GIS and mutli-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach. Modeling includes technical and economic factors while considering mainly cropland as the primary area of research for Punjab (Pakistan). The technique of analytical Hierarchy processing (AHP) is applied for criteria weights and a land suitability index (LSI) is calculated. The potential sites are then grouped into three categories namely “Least suitable”, “moderately suitable” and “Most suitable”. An estimate of total energy that may be harnessed can later be calculated throughout the feasible agricultural land in Punjab (Pakistan). Factors such as land type, proximity to transmission line, irrigation system, irradiance etc. are to be considered while selecting the desirable sites.

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/95023805045?pwd=YzBGTEJFMzZmaUN5OExsNHZHT2t4QT09

Meeting ID: 950 2380 5045

Passcode: 677700