Geospatial analysis of Site Suitability for the Development of Wind Power Plant in Maysan Province, Southern Iraq using a GIS-AHP technique

Ali Kadhim Resen; Hamsa Haider; Faleh H. Mahmood

doi:10.24996/ijs.2026.67.10.29

Authors

Ali Kadhim Resen Scientific Research Commission, Research and Technology Center of Environment, Water and Renewable Energy https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7700-2125
Hamsa Haider University of Baghdad, College of Science, Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, Baghdad, Iraq
Faleh H. Mahmood University of Baghdad, College of Science, Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, Baghdad, Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24996/ijs.2026.67.10.29

Keywords:

GIS, AHP, Wind Energy, MCDM, Weight overlay

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive methodology aimed at boosting the analysis of land suitability for wind power plants via Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. This study evaluates Mysan province in Iraq, concentrating on identifying sustainable strategies to enhance and promote renewable energy as a viable alternative to meet energy demands. The integrated methodology involving AHP and GIS encompasses several stages, including the structuring of the AHP hierarchy, the description of appraisal criteria, the execution of pairwise comparisons, and the preparation of criterion maps and land appropriateness maps. This approach has been utilized to pinpoint location that are appropriate for the installation of wind power plants. The results revealed that 28.35% of the total land (16,683.1 km2) is classified as low land suitability, 67.58% as moderate land suitability, and 4.06% as high land suitability for the installation of wind power plants.