Sensitivity analysis of criteria to optimize wind farm localizing: A case study

Abstract

The objective of this study was to perform a sensitivity analysis on the factors affecting wind site localization. A case study is selected based on 13 cities in the province of Fars in Iran which is equally applicable in any other wind sites. Then, the cities are ranked using the dual form of the data envelopment analysis model. Next, six criteria are adopted including wind conditions, population, Available Land condition, distance to distribution networks, rate of natural disasters, and the cost of land. In the sensitivity analysis of each criterion, first, the criterion under analysis is omitted from the model, and then the dual model is applied again to obtain a new ranking. Evaluating the results of the ranking for 13 studied cities indicate that the city of Shiraz is just sensitive to the population criterion and fell 11 places in the ranking by omitting this criterion. But the city is insensitive to any other criteria.