Use of Analytic Hierarchy Process for Wind Farm Installation Region Prioritization–Case Study

Electricity generation via renewable sources is emerging as a possible solution to meet thegrowing demand for electricity worldwide. Additionally, the need to produce clean energy, withlittle or no pollutants or greenhouse gas emission is paramount. Due to these factors, wind farmsare noticeably increasing in number, especially in Brazil. However, the vast size of the country andthe poor quality of its infrastructure are among several factors that make it difficult for effectivedecision-making to accelerate the growth of this segment in Brazil. With the purpose of assistinggovernment agencies, regulatory agencies and other institutions in this area, the use of a multicriteriaselection method called the analytic hierarchy process is proposed here to assist in decisionmakingand to select priority regions for implementing wind farms. This work focuses on a casestudy of the state of Bahia, in which 27 territories were selected for an installation priorityevaluation. Computational tools were used to hierarchize these chosen territories, including Matlab,for the construction of the computational algorithm. The results indicate the priority pf the regionsaccording to the established criteria, which allows installation locations to be mapped—these couldserve as a basis for regional investment.