Solar Energy Potential Assessment: Analytic Hierarchy Process Model for Selecting Solar Energy Sites in Vietnam

In recent years, the usage of solar energy has become one of the most popular immense renewable energy sources. It is a clean, environmentally friendly, and secure power source. Despite the availability of solar energy potential assessment since the early days of solar plant, the emergence of new proposals and the current debate on the development of an energy rating standard mean that this can still be considered as an open question. This paper presents an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model for selecting solar energy sites in Vietnam. Currently, the proposed factors affecting the decision to select the potential location of the solar power plant have not been unified, and this is still considered an open question for consultants and regulators. In this study, using AHP to determine the weight of factor to select solar energy site including Society, Technology, Environment, Economy and Policy in Vietnam. From the results, in the 5 factors of level 1 the technical factor has the largest weight, followed by the factors of Environment, Economy, and Society and finally is the Policy factor. The study also identified three key criteria affecting the decision to select the potential location of a solar power plant: Solar radiation intensity, Investment costs for internal infrastructure and the impact on the regional landscape. Furthermore, the results of this study will be the reference for further studies being able to elaborate on planning and supplementing of electricity development planning or appraising the plan to select the location of building a solar power plant.