Multicriteria analysis for sources of renewable energy using data from remote sensing

Abstract. Renewable energy sources are major components of the strategy to reduce harmful emissions and to replace depleting fossil energy resources. Data from remote sensing can provide information for multicriteria analysis for sources of renewable energy. Advanced land cover quantification makes it possible to search for suitable sites. Multicriteria analysis, together with other data, is used to determine the energy potential and socially acceptability of suggested locations. The described case study is focused on an area of surface coal mines in the northwestern region of the Czech Republic, where the impacts of surface mining and reclamation constitute a dominant force in land cover changes. High resolution satellite images represent the main input datasets for identification of suitable sites. Solar mapping, wind predictions, the location of weirs in watersheds, road maps and demographic information complement the data from remote sensing for multicriteria analysis, which is implemented in a geographic information system (GIS). The input spatial datasets for multicriteria analysis in GIS are reclassified to a common scale and processed with raster algebra tools to identify suitable sites for sources of renewable energy. The selection of suitable sites is limited by the CORINE land cover database to mining and agricultural areas. The case study is focused on long term land cover changes in the 1985-2015 period. Multicriteria analysis based on CORINE data shows moderate changes in mapping of suitable sites for utilization of selected sources of renewable energy in 1990, 2000, 2006 and 2012. The results represent map layers showing the energy potential on a scale of a few preference classes (1-7), where the first class is linked to minimum preference and the last class to maximum preference. The attached histograms show the moderate variability of preference classes due to land cover changes caused by mining activities. The results also show a slight increase in the more preferred classes for utilization of sources of renewable energy due to an increase area of reclaimed sites. Using data from remote sensing, such as the multispectral images and the CORINE land cover datasets, can reduce the financial resources currently required for finding and assessing suitable areas.