Renewable energy sources are clean energy sources and have a much lower environmental impact than other energy sources. Energy production from biomass allows the storage of energy raw materials, unlike other renewable energy sources. Some factors and criteria affect the site selection of biomass power plants. Determining the significant levels of these conflicting criteria is vital for investors in choosing a biomass power generation facility location. Location selection of biomass power plants is a multi-criteria decision problem for decision makers. The relative importance of the criteria includes quantitative evaluations and is an uncertain process. In this study, a comprehensive literature study determined the criteria to be considered in selecting biomass energy production facility locations. The fuzzy analytical hierarchy process was used to determine the importance levels of the criteria to be used to select the bio-mass power plant establishment location.
TopIntroduction
Humanity is faced with the depletion of resources as a result of socio-economic development. The development of non-polluting renewable energy should be encouraged for resources to be long-term and sustainable (Xue, Ding, Zhao, Zhu, & Li, 2022). Developing energy efficiency and renewable energy sources is one of the effective solution methods in preventing climate change (Adua, Zhang, & Clark, 2021). The environmental effects of fossil fuels and the depletion of resources have necessitated the development of many policies to use renewable energy sources (Lerkkasemsan & Achenie, 2014). Effective energy management is possible with the efficient use of renewable energy sources (Ilbahar, Kahraman, & Cebi, 2021).
The renewable energy market is increasing around the world. Corporate companies make the majority of the supply and demand in the renewable energy market. As production and supply expertise in renewable energy sources increases, energy costs decrease (O’Shaughnessy, Heeter, Shah, & Koebrich, 2021). Energy policies should be developed to regulate the energy supply processes of renewable energy sources. Energy policies implemented in West Africa have resulted in widely access to electricity (Maman Ali & Yu, 2021). Renewable energy positively impacts economic development (Q. Wang, Dong, Li, & Wang, 2022).
Cities and centres of mass production settlement have an important place in the transition to renewable energy sources. Alternative plans are needed to transition to renewable energy sources (Hoicka, Conroy, & Berka, 2021). The most crucial problem experienced in using renewable energy sources is the technical difficulties in storing energy obtained from the sun and wind. Integration of renewable energy sources with the grid, the inability to store energy is one of the crucial handicaps in disseminating renewable energy sources (Ben Yosef et al., 2021). Contrary to other renewable energy sources, storing the gases obtained from biomass is technically more economical. However, biomass has a low energy density compared to other energy sources, and transportation costs are high (Cheng, Zhang, & Wang, 2020). Contrary to renewable energy sources, the most crucial advantage of obtaining energy from biomass is that the gases obtained from biomass can be stored. Thus, the grid can be fed with energy when needed.
Obtaining energy in biomass power plants depends on feeding with bio-waste at the location where the power plant is installed. Therefore, it is necessary to collect, store and transport waste from waste production centres of different scales to the power plant. The transportation of the feedstock, minimizing the pollutant emissions, and logistics costs should be considered in the placement of biomass power plants (Zhao & Li, 2016). Potential raw material sources for biomass are agricultural, forest, animal, urban, and industrial wastes. In this respect, another vital issue that increases biomass input is biomass diversity. (Cebi, Ilbahar, & Atasoy, 2016). Biomass is in a wide range. Forest wastes (Viana, Cohen, Lopes, & Aranha, 2010), agricultural products (Guo & Zhu, 2021), domestic wastes (food), industrial wastes (beet, olive pomace) can be counted as biomass input.
The location selection problem is one of the essential issues during the establishment of new enterprises. The priorities of the decision-makers should also be taken into account in the facility location selection problem. Facility location selection criteria vary according to the field of activity of the enterprise. The qualitative and quantitative priorities of the decision-makers are essential in terms of facility development, cost-effectiveness, and national policies. In this study, the FAHP technique was used to consider the qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the decision-makers in the biomass plant site selection.