Decision support model for solar plant site selection

Electricity demand is rising rapidly due to the expansion of economy. This results in an increase of demand for electricity generation such as power plant fossil, hydro and nuclear. Every form of electricity generation has its strength and weakness. For example, fossil fuel power plants burn a significant amount of coal, oil or gas to produce electricity and produce large amount of greenhouse gas. To reduce it, renewable energy resources such as wind, solar and small scale hydro become popular nowadays. This research focuses on building site selection models for locating solar power plant in Thailand based on DEA method. The models were used to determine the efficiencies of plant site candidates which are based on 77 provinces of Thailand. The analysis provides practical results that can be used for determining solar plant location.